Tom Riddle's sixth year at Hogwarts
by KidaRiddle
Summary: Is Tom Riddle really as nice as everyone thinks? Maybe, or is it just his double nature Voldemort that's pranking? This is my story about him and his friends as teenagers at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hope you enjoy it
1. Sweet Tom isn't so sweet after all

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I do not make any money from writing this story. I do it only for fun.

**Chapter 1: Sweet Tom isn't so sweet after all**

Tom was pacing back and forth in the little room. He wanted to go back to Hogwarts. The day after was the first of September, and he was going to go back there to start his sixth year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. He was a wizard, he knew that. He could speak Parseltongue too. He was the brightest student at the school. He was a prefect. What else was he? Very powerful and of course not as nice as everyone thought. His friends in Slytherin admired him; they were scared of him. They obeyed him; did everything he told them to do. There were four people that were his closest. Abraxas Malfoy, who followed him almost everywhere and Cygnus Black, who followed him when Abraxas wasn't there; he always had someone close to him. Then there was Melinda Rocko. She was a bit peculiar; was always trying to impress him to make him like her. He thought it was irritating, but as long as she did what he told her he was satisfied. Last, but by no means least, there was Rose Movo, the rebel of the group. Tom had forgotten how many times he'd had to punish her for disobedience. By beating her, mostly. He had never used magic against her; it would have been humiliating. He didn't want to think about them now. All he wanted was to come back to Hogwarts.

Suddenly the dinner bell rang. Tom sighed and went down to the canteen.

"Get out of the way!" said a boy as he tried to push past Tom.

"Do not speak to me in that tone," he whispered in the boy's ear, which made him give a jump.

"I'm sorry," he said and followed Tom nicely all the way to the canteen.

After dinner he went back up to his room and threw himself on the bed. He stayed there all day, where no one could disturb him. Packed what was left in the trunk before he locked it. Then he lay down on his bed, trying to sleep, and within a couple of minutes you could hear deep breaths.

The next morning the sun and birds singing awaked him. He had forgotten to pull the blind down the night before, and the sunlight was flowing into the room. He got on his feet quickly and pulled the curtain down. He despised days like these, or at least he should despise them. Then he recalled what day it was and checked his watch.

_Not more than eight,_ he thought and started to get dressed, but he stopped and headed for the bathroom instead.

He at least wanted to be clean the first day at school. He wanted to be on time. He was going to go at ten o'clock, and it was best to be finished by then. When he was ready and had showered it was already nine, which happened to be the time the breakfast opened. He pulled out a pair of clean jeans and got a shirt on before he went down.

A quarter to eleven he was at the station. He saw Abraxas at a distance and started to walk that way.

"Tom!" called a voice and he turned around and spotted Melinda and Rose. He nodded, and they followed him over to Abraxas.

"Hi," Tom began, and when Abraxas turned around the girls looked away.

In Abraxas' face there were a long scar over the cheek down to his chin.

"Hi," Abraxas replied silently.

"What happened to you?" Rose wondered. "I don't know what you look like, but it's certainly not very pretty."

"It's a long story. I'll tell you on the train, that we should, by the way, be getting on now. Are you coming?" he started walking towards the train.

A couple of minutes later they were all in a compartment waiting for Cygnus.

It was five past, but he didn't show up. It was ten past, and he still wasn't there.

At a quarter past, Tom stood up and went to check where he'd gone.

He found him in a compartment in the very back of the train that was stocked with seventh-years from Slytherin.

Tom opened the door, and instantly everyone fell silent. He made a sign to Cygnus to come with him. As usual, he did what he was told.

"What?" he asked sourly when he'd closed the door.

" I want a couple of things. One: you don't speak to me in that tone. Two: I do not care where you are, if only I get to know it. Okay?"

"Sure," Cygnus answered in the same tone.

Tom smacked him and he groaned in pain.

"Did it hurt?" he asked and smirked.

Cygnus could do nothing but to nod.

"Good, 'cause I don't tolerate disobedience, I thought you knew that. Come with me to my compartment, so that I know where I've got you."

Cygnus nodded again and followed Tom.

"What happened?" Melinda asked when she saw Cygnus' blue turning cheek.

"Ask your master," he answered before he took a seat opposite to Tom.

"What did you do?" she asked Tom.

"What I usually do when people don't obey my orders. I punish them."

A couple of hours later everything seemed to be back to normal, and everyone was talking and having a nice time. Everyone except Tom.

"How was your summer?" Cygnus asked after a while.

"My parents have bought a house in France. On the Riviera, actually. It's very nice, we were there all summer," Abraxas answered

"What did you and your parents do this summer, Tom?" Rose asked and grinned. "Oh, right, you haven't got any parents."

"Shut up," was all Tom said. He knew it wouldn't help, but he said it anyway.

"But please Tom, how could I help that your parents were so useless that they didn't even want to keep you," she continued, even though she knew what he would do to her.

" I said SHUT UP!" he screamed, and Rose gave a jump, but it was apparently not enough to make her keep quiet.

He knew what he had to do. It was both forbidden and unforgivable, but he had to do it. Rose was making fun of him, and he wasn't going to tolerate that. He whispered something to Cygnus, who instantly stood up and went outside.

On his way out he pulled the blind down, and Tom put a silencing spell over Rose who looked very surprised. The next instance it occurred to her what he was going to do. She shook her head violently and she looked absolutely petrified.

"Crucio," Tom whispered and pointed his wand towards Rose, who fell of her seat and twitched in pain.

Tom saw that she was trying to scream, but no sound came off her lips.

Tom sat down again and let the curse last another couple of minutes. Melinda and Abraxas sat on their seats, looking absolutely petrified. He looked at them, and they bowed in respect.

After a while he had to let go of the curse. He thought seeing Rose unconscious on the floor was enough. He kicked her to make her wake up and squatted beside her. Rose looked up and flinched when she saw him. She crouched beneath the window, shaking.

Tom stayed put on his seat and started to talk to her.

"You know it's your own fault, Rose," he began and smiled, satisfied, when she nodded. "I don't want you to mention my parents again. Okay?" he continued, and Rose nodded again.

"Don't tell anyone about this," he said silently and looked at Melinda and Abraxas, who both nodded.

He doubted that Rose would dare to tell anyone. She knew what would happen to her then, and he wouldn't stop the next time.

He got to his feet, and after a couple of minutes of persuasion Rose tried to stand up. It didn't go very well. She managed to get up on her knees, but then she was so out of breath that she never could have managed any more.

Tom knew it wasn't even worth a try.

Melinda stood up to help her, but a harsh look from Tom immediately got her to sit down again.

A while later Cygnus came in again. Apart from Abraxas and Melinda he didn't seem the least bit chocked. Relieved, rather. Probably because it was over.

Rose was still lying on the floor. She had started sobbing again and Tom sighed. One thing got him to smile, though. Rose's wit seemed to be gone, and she really needed to rest.

She got on her knees in front of him, begging for help. Cygnus did the same and got down beside her. Tom smiled when he saw Abraxas and Melinda do the same.

He gave them permission to rise, he'd even had enough of Rose's sobbing and gave Melinda orders to help her; something she gladly did.

Tom looked at his watch; they should be there soon.

As a response to his thoughts, the train slowed down and stopped.

Rose, who seemed to feel a bit better, could walk normally again. It was good that they didn't have to carry their things to the carriage, 'cause she couldn't have done that.

Tom looked at the great, winged animals who pulled the carriages and sighed. Sighing had obviously turned into a habit, something he had got to break off with.

He quickly got into the carriage, and the others followed him.

It couldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes to get up to the castle, and yet Tom thought it felt like an eternity. He checked his watch every second.

In the Great hall he sat down at the middle of the table. He pulled Rose down on his left side while Cygnus sat down on his right.

A couple of minutes later the sorting started and Tom sighed again. He was hungry and hoped for the sorting to be over soon. For once he actually found it quite nice.

When the feast was over he went slowly up to the dormitory after telling Abraxas and Cygnus to keep an eye on Rose and make sure she didn't speak to anyone about what he'd done. When he got up to the dormitory he stopped and looked around. Seven beds stood next to each other. They were in green and silver; the colours of Slytherin.

Suddenly the door opened, and Abraxas and Cygnus came in, followed by another boy. Tom thought he was second year, but he wasn't sure. Abraxas and Cygnus quieted instantly when they noticed Tom, but the other boy kept on talking like nothing had happened; which he didn't think it had.

"What is it?" he asked when he noticed that the others had quieted.

"Nothing. You should go to bed," Abraxas replied calmly.

"But I…"

"NOW!" Tom roared and smiled when the boy immediately ran off to his own dormitory. "We've got to talk," he continued, and Cygnus and Abraxas nodded.

"What did Rose say?" he asked impatiently.

"I don't know what you mean," Abraxas replied insecurely.

"What did she say about me when I had left?" he asked again. He started to get irritated. "Cygnus?"

"We didn't listen. Should we have?" was the answer.

"Incompetent fools! Go to bed."

Tom quickly went to the girls' dormitory; cast a spell that allowed him to be in there. He put a silencing spell on her again before dragging her down to the common room where he let her go. He let the spell go and she looked at him, terrified.

"What do you want?" she asked and pulled back.

"Shut up," he said, and smacked her so that she fell on the floor. "What did you say about me?"

"Nothing, I swear," she answered a little too fast.

"Don't lie to me," he said silently and sat down on the floor beside her. She tried to get up, but he pushed her back down. "What did you say?"

"I told Dippet what you did on the train, but he didn't believe me."

"Did you tell anyone else?"

"No, I would ne…"

"Shut up," he said again and interrupted her.

He tried to find out what she'd actually said, but eventually he had to give up. She was telling the truth. He was relieved, happy that she hadn't told Dumbledore. He didn't trust him. For good reasons, certainly, but anyway. He wasn't supposed to know about him yet. He would, in time, if he was alive then.

"You can go," he said and let go of her."

She stood up and went back to her dormitory, slowly. Tom did the same thing and lay down on his bed. He lay for a long while and stared up in the ceiling before he finally fell asleep.

**A:N// Hope you liked it. If someone is intrested in Beta-reading this story, please tell me. I really need help since english is only my second language. Ton't forget to rewiev.**


	2. I am Lord Voldemort

**Okey, I have to admitt that I still don't have a beta-reader. Isabell896, you are very welcome to do the honor if you feel like it. I would apreciate it very much. I'm very sorry for all the misspellings and grammarmistakes that I have done, but it's hard to get it correct since English isn't my native language. Please leave a review if you like it, preferably with critisism of what I can improve and so on. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Chapter two: I am Lord Voldemort**

Tom yawned and sat up in the bed. The room was completely black and he smirked. He threw a pillow at Cygnus and Abraxas. Cygnus woke up immediately and groaned from tiredness, while Abraxas were still not completely awake, mumbling something Tom didn't quite understand. As usual when Tom was newly awake he was a bit cranky and because of that he poured a glass of water over Abraxas, who flew out of bed from surprise.

"Why in hell are we supposed to be up at this hour?" Cygnus mumbled and lay back down again.

"Come", was everything Tom said and they went down so the Slytherin common room, where the girls awaited them.

"That took some time. It's seven and we start in like an hour. If we want some breakfast we have to hurry", Melinda said and quickly went to the exit.

"Take it easy, Mel. Let us at least wake up a bit first. I have no intentions of falling asleep in the Great Hall again", Cygnus laughed and yawned again.  
Melinda didn't seem to care and continued to exit the room.  
Tom sat down in an armchair and closed his eyes.

"Wait", he said and Melinda stopped immediately and turned around.

"Where did Rose go by the way? Abraxas suddenly asked and Tom discovered that she was no longer with them.

"Mel, check your dormitory, will you? He said leaning his back. "If she's there, bring her back here. Okay?" Melinda nodded and left.

"What lessons do we have today?" Tom asked Cygnus who checked their schedule.

"Let's see, we have potions in the morning then some free time and astronomy before lunch. Then we have transfigurations and defense against the dark arts, and that's pretty much everything," he said and sighed.

"She's not there," a voice said and Melinda was back. "Maybe she already left?"

"That's what I'm afraid of", Tom said and went for the exit.

For once, he took no detours, but went directly to the Great Hall. He could not see Rose somewhere. He had met her for almost two days and she had been punished on both days. Not that it was unusually. He was accustomed to punish her by now, and she was used to being punished. Often she came directly to him to get it over with. Except for now.  
He ate his breakfast and then went to the potions classroom in the dungeons. Slughorn was, as usual, thrilled to see Tom again.

"So, how's my best student doing?" Good I hope? He started and smiled.

"I'm just fine, professor. And you?" He asked with a fake smile.

"I'm fine as well, Tom. Thank you for asking. So what do you think? Time to start the lesson perhaps?

They actually didn't do anything the lesson, but to talk about the summer. Slughorn said that he was very glad to see most of them, even though some had quit the subject. He also told them that next time they were doing a love potion. As usual there was a prize for the best of them. Tom didn't know how many times he had won. He had stopped counting a long time ago.

The lesson ended and they went back to the common room. On their way there, they bumped into Rose. She seemed breathless, as if she had run several miles

"Where the hell have you been? You missed the potion lesson", Tom said and she nodded briefly.

"I was in the library to look one thing up", she said very fast. "I should probably go apologizing to Slughorn. See you guys in the common room later", she continued and walked off to the classroom.

"Relax Tom. You can deal with her later", Cyngus said when he saw Toms expression  
"I guess you're right. Come on let's go"

Suddenly he stopped and turned around. He motioned for the others to come with him. That was when they nearly bumped into Rose again. She shook her head, but followed.

At the second floor he suddenly stopped and turned around to see if anyone was stalking them before he went to the girls bathroom.

"Tom what are we doing here? We are not allowed to be here"; Abraxas said worriedly.

"Relax. I know what I'm doing", Tom said and walked towards the basin.

Everyone stared at him in shock. Probably because they thought he was supposed to wash his hands or something like that.  
He stopped nearly one step from the basin and started hissing.

"_Open"_, he said and everyone look at him in admiration when the basins started moving.

"Follow me", he said and jumped down the black pit that was now visible. He head Abraxas, Cygnus, Rose and Melinda follow him.

With a great effort he was able to land on his feet. The other ones did not have that much luck.  
He sighed and started walking while the others stayed behind.

A couple of seconds later they decided to follow him just to see where he was going. There they saw something there would never forget. It was a very big slough. It was about 82 feet long and very big.  
"Is that what I think it is?" Melinda asked and swallowed.

"Yes, come on", Tom said and kept walking.

At the next door Tom stopped and hissed again. The Hall behind it was huge. Probably twice as big as the great hall.

"Wow", Cygnus said. Apparently that was the only thing he was able to say at the moment.

They quickly followed to across the room where he stayed and turned around.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the chamber of secrets." Everyone took deep breaths and Toms was surprise they had not realized where they were earlier.

"What exactly are we supposed to do here?" Rose asked sarcastic.

Tom had condoned her all morning. He shows her the Chamber of Secrets and she's still sarcastic. He had had enough. He would make sure this would be the last time. But not yet. First, they would know what he had planned.

"My faithful…can we call it followers? You will know make a promise. A promise about always serving me. Receive the punishments provided and even rewards", he started.  
He was satisfied when the four of them kneeled in front of him and did not ask them to rise, as he had done so many times before.

"Will you make the promise or not?"

"I promise to always serve you and be faithful until I die", Abraxas said and bowed his head.

"You will always be my lord and master. I swear to be faithful", Melinda continued and followed Abraxas example.

Tom smiled again.

"I will always be your humble servant", Cygnus said and took a deep breath.

"I promise to be faithful", Rose said and smiled.

Tom looked at her with surprise. He had not expected her to make the promise without any violence involving. But she would be punished. He checked his watch and sighed when he realized they started class in less then forty minutes.

He went to Abraxas and told him to give him his left arr. Tom noticed that he was surprise but did what he was told. He picked up his wand and pointed it at Abraxas forearm.

A couple of seconds later he removed it. Where the wand had been was now mark. A skull with a snake slithering from its mouth.  
He repeated the action on Melinda, Cygnus and Rose before ha backed away.

"Thank you. What I have given you is the dark mark. A sigh for the side you're on. The thing you should know is when the mark burns you will be at my side immediately. Understood?"  
Melinda, Abraxas and Cygnus nodded but Rose hesitated.

"And now for the actual reason for bringing you here. Rose, where were you this morning, 'cause you were definitely not? You would never go to the library. You hate that place", he stated calmly.

"I was speaking to Dumbledore about what you did to me on the train. He seemed to think it was very interesting." Rose smirked.

Tom went furious. She had gone too far.

"Tom, your eyes", Cygnus said and backed a few steps. Melinda and Abraxas followed him backwards.

Rose notice his wand pointing at her, but this time she wasn't afraid. She knew it would end eventually.

"Rose", he said calmly. "It's not going to end this time. Not for a very long time. You went too far this time."

Rose was still watching him. She couldn't understand how he knew what she was thinking. Another thing that astonished her was how he could be so calm when it was so obvious he was angry.

"CRUCIO!" He roared and Rose fell flat on the floor.

She had never, not in her wildest dreams imagined it would hurt that much. Compared to this, last time was just another punch. She could do nothing but to scream. She was vaguely aware of what was going on in the room, but she noticed that Abraxas, Melinda and Cygnus were very pale. Then everything went black.

"Please stop it", Melinda screamed and threw herself beside Rose.  
Tom smiled and turned away, but kept the curse going. He raised his wand once again and started writing in the thin air. The red letters read Tom Marvolo Riddle. With just a flick of his wand, the letters change place and started reforming themselves to another word.

"I am Lord Voldemort", Cygnus said out loud and watched Tom for a second.

"Surprised?" Tom asked and his friend nodded briefly. "You didn't actually believe that I would keep my filthy mugglefathers name, did you? I have been working on it the whole summer and I have to say that I'm pretty satisfied with it.

Suddenly there was a loud hissing and a giant snake slithered into the chamber. Tom hissed something at it and it moved its eyes so it was now drawn to the ceiling.

"Is that what I think it is?" Abraxas asked fascinated

"Yes", Tom answered and smiled again.

He removed the curse from Rose and Melinda almost cried from relief. He started walking out of the chamber. Since they started in fifteen minutes they had to leave now. Be they would be back for sure.  
"Come." Melinda barely left Rose laying unconscious on the floor, but did what she was told.

"Can't we bring her with us?"

"It would spoil my plans. We'll be back for her later."

"If you're sure" Melinda sighed

"_Kill her",_ he hissed to the basilisk. "_And make sure she suffers."_

A couple of seconds later they were back and headed towards the astronomy tower. Tom couldn't understand why they didn't have astronomy at night like it usually was. He guesses they were just talking today. He was also thinking about the fate Rose had received. He raised his left arm he watched the black ring on his finger. There was the proof. Something he would never give away. At least not yet. He looked up en continued walking. They were almost there when a couple of seventh years stopped them.

"What are a couple of sixth years like you doing here at this time", a boy with yellow hair asked sarcastic. Somehow, it reminded Tom of Rose.

"I think the big question is: What are you doing here?" Tom asked from behind the others. The boys twitched, knowing better then to question anything Tom said.

"N-Nothing. Nothing at all", one of the boys said and ran off.

De kept going up the stairs. Only a few steps later they were stopped once again. This time from someone from their own year. Tom thought his name was Michael, but he wasn't sure.

"You can turn around. The lesson has been moved. It's tonight at twelve instead", he said and passed continued down the stairs.

Everyone groaned and sighed. To get to the astronomy tower was not easy. There were many steps in the staircase. They turned around and with a lot o protests Tom made the whole gang stop at the second floor. He kept going towards the girls bathroom and opened the chamber again.

A couple of minutes later they entered the room they left Rose in. Abraxas and Cygnus creamed and Melinda fell to her knees to shocked to do anything. Tom just smiled.


	3. Lies

Okey, here's the third chapter. I know I'm lazy, since I already have the whole story written down. Maybe you could reveiw and it'll go a bit faster? That's up to you. Hope you like this one at least.

**Chapter 3: Lies  
**  
Rose lay in front of them, but somehow it didn't really look like her. Her face was ripped away and was visible a couple of feet away from the body which seemed to be twisted in a way that should not be possible. Every limb in her body must have been broken and the blood seemed to have flushed away from her body. Several bite marks were visible and her clothes had been torn apart.  
Tom called for the Basilisk and praised her for the good work. This was something he didn't do very often. He turned around and noticed Melinda crying. Cygnus and Abraxas tried to comfort her, but she didn't seem to notice they were there. He started to walk out of the chamber while smiling the whole time.  
His two friends barely got Melinda on her feet and led her after Tom.

"Not a word about this to anyone. Understood? The last time we saw her was when she got back from Slughorn. The she was missing."

"We understand", Cygnus said and Abraxas nodded.

"Good", he stated and kept walking.

Only a couple of minutes later they were in the common room and Abraxas and Cygnus put Melinda down in an armchair across the fireplace.

"I'm going to Slughorn and notify Rose as missing", Tom said and left.

He knocked at the door and faked his worry. It was a good thing he was a good actor. The door opened and Slughorn watched Tom with surprise.

"Professor. I think Rose has left", he said and Slughorn seemed too taken aback.

"What makes you think she's done that, Tom?"

"Melinda found this on her pillow", he lied. "She's in the common room sick with worry. What if something has happened?"

"Come with me and we'll go speak with the headmaster", Slughorn said and Tom followed him nicely.

"Are you telling me you, Mr Riddle, found this note on Miss Movos pillow?" The headmaster asked and seemed to be very worried.

"Actually. It was Melinda who found it", smirked Tom and sighed.

"And you are sure it is really her note?"

"It's her handwriting so, yes, I'm pretty sure."

About an hour later, Tom was allowed to go back to his common room.

"Abraxas took Melinda to the hospital wing", Cygnus said when Tom sat down in a sofa next to him. Tom just nodded briefly and sank down deep in thoughts. Moments later, he was asleep.

When he woke up the next time, it was night. He looked at his watch and noticed it was already three o'clock in the night. He yawned and realized he had an errand in the hospital wing. If he remembered correctly, which he usually did, Dipped was going to talk to Melinda tomorrow morning.

"_Why does everything have to be so complicated_", he thought to himself before he unlocked the door and stepped through it.

Melinda was laying in the bed next to the window in the other side of the room and Tom stepped beside her. He raised his wand and put the tip of in on Melinda's forehead, before he mumbled something inaudible. Now all he had to do was concentrate really hard. He had to if this was going to work. He was going to change her memories so she would only remember finding Rose's note and nothing about Rose being in the chamber. He made her believe it had only been him, her and Cygnus and Abraxas.

A minute later, when he was done, he had to sit down on the bed next to Melinda so he wouldn't fall. The sweat was dripping down his forehead, but he still decided to look inside of Melinda's head to make sure all the memories were changed. Not that they wouldn't be, but still. Luckily, he was once again right.

Satisfied he went back to the dormitory, where everything that could be heard was some deep snoring from the other boys. He climbed up his bed and fell asleep almost immediately, which was very odd since he had slept several hours just a couple of minutes ago.

Tom flew out of bed with a jerk. Just like all the other boys in the dormitory. Anyone should have if someone was pouring mud over them. It wasn't hard to guess whom or what had done this. It was obvious it was Peeves. Tom was furious at him, but realized it wouldn't do any good so he just stood there and boiled with anger. Maybe he could talk to the bloody Baron later. That sounded like a good idea.

When he looked up, he noticed the other kids cleaning their beds with some sort of brush. He didn't even want to know how he possibly could live with so pathetic people.

"Scourgify", he said and pointed his wand at the bed, which was now cleaning itself. The other boys looked at him for a short while before sighing and casting the spell themselves. Tom thought it was obvious to use it and was a bit disappointed that since they were all pureblood this spell should be the first one they had in mind.

He left them to clean up the rest and sat down in an armchair again and for the first time reflected about his lift at Hogwarts. What he could remember best was his sorting. How proud he felt when he ended up in Slytherin.

Flashback:

He stood in the line. Very nervous for what was going to happen next. He knew there was no reason for it, but it couldn't be helped. He was one of the last ones. There was about six other boys and two girls around him and he wished his last named was not Riddle. It was an awful lot of time with just waiting in times like this. Finally, they got to R.

"Riddle, Tom", the teacher called. Tom didn't remember his name. Not that it mattered. There were few things, which mattered to Tom.  
He took a deep breath when the hat was placed upon his head and he shrugged when it started talking to him:

"So, what do we have here? Another descendant from the Slytherin line, and a very fine young boy as well. Don't worry. I know where to place you. It wouldn't be good to infuriate your ancestors now would it? SLYTHERIN!"  
_  
Was it really possible?_ Tom thought when he sat down at the Slytherin table. _Could he really be the heir of Salazar Slytherin?_

End of flashback

That had been the best day in his life and since then he really had changed. To the worse, even if not that many people knew about it yet though. He also remembered last year when he had released the basilisk and got the oaf Hagrid expelled. A girl died and Hagrid love to big and scary animals helped him escape. It hadn't been hard to blame him. Everyone thought he was a jerk. Well, everyone apart from Dumbledore. He had to call the basilisk back not to draw attention to himself.

"Are you coming? We're starting in like fifteen minutes", a voice said and Tom stood up, still deep in thoughts.

He caught up with Cygnus and Abraxas who were in the middle of a discussion about what was going on at the school. Apparently, they noticed Tom didn't listen and silenced. Tom hated defense again the dark arts. He already knew most of the dark arts and didn't see any reason for him to learn to defend himself against it. Against his will, he wondered what professor Jenkins had planned for them today.

Once there the door opened and the students rushed inside to get the best seats. Tom sank down somewhere in the middle with Abraxas and Cygnus on either sides.  
Surprisingly Melinda joined them a couple of minutes later and sat down behind them. They hadn't seen her since the horrible thing happened in the Chamber of secrets.  
Professor Jenkins slowly started the lesson.

After a while, she stopped talking and turned to the students?

"Do any of you know which the Unforgivable curses are?" she asked so nicely that Tom felt he had to vomit.  
No one answered.  
After a while, Tom raised his hand with a bored expression.

"You know the answer, Mr Riddle?"

"The Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse and the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra."

"Very good Mr Riddle. Ten points to Slytherin."

In the end of the lesson, she gave them a lesson to write about one of the unforgivable curses. The class groaned, but for once, no one argued.

Ten minutes later Tom sat at the Slytherin table to have some lunch. He realized he wasn't very hungry so instead of eating as he usually did, he left the table and slowly left the Great Hall. He really enjoyed the loneliness. It was a long time since he was alone now. Cygnus and Abraxas were with him almost constantly.

Suddenly he heard a scream. However, it wasn't a scream in pain. It was a scream in fear. He rushed there to see what was going on, but the sight wasn't exactly what he had expected.

TBC...


	4. Thoughts

**I am so sorry for not updating this even though I have all the chapters written down. I've been tryin' to find a beta-reader but I have toa dmitt that I've been unsucessfull. Therefore, this and maybe everyone will not be beta-readed and you just have to endure my grammar and spelling mistakes. Once again, I'm sorry for that. I will be posting chapter five now as well since it's so short. Hope you like it.**

**Chapter 4: Thoughts**

What he saw shocked him. It was a giant octopus. Not that he had never seen it before, it was few who hadn't, but he had never seen it act this way before. In one of its eight arms, it held a little girl. Tom noticed that she seemed unconscious and her friends were screaming in fear on the shore, a couple of feet away. He ran straight to them and tried to calm them down. He couldn't just walk away. It would probably make the professors suspicious.  
Apparently, there were other students who had heard the screams and came to see what was going on.

"Get the headmaster!" he screamed and two students immediately ran to get him. At least that was what Tom thought.  
Then he backed off towards the other students. Cygnus and Abraxas approached him immediately and looked at him curiously.

"What's going on?" Abraxas asked worriedly and looked at the unconscious girl.

"How am I supposed to know", he snapped. "I found them like this. The girls can't be calmed. Let's just hope the headmaster will be here soon.

A couple of minutes later the two students came back, but not with the headmaster, as Tom had expected.

"Dumbledore", he whispered to Abraxas and Cygnus, who both nodded.

Everything passed very quickly now. Dumbledore shouted something and the octopus let the girl down in the cold water.  
The girl was borne out of there on a stretcher and her friends went along with it.  
Tom sat down on a rock and sighed. He reminded himself of his promise not to sigh very much and hoped there was something he could do to make sure he didn't do it very often.

The rest of the students returned to whatever they were doing before this happened, probably homework. Abraxas and Cygnus sat down beside him, but he showed no reaction. Instead, he just kept looking out over the lake.

"What are you thinking about?" Cygnus asked after a while.  
Tom didn't answer.

"Earth to Tom. What are you thinking about?" Cygnus asked again when Tom didn't answer.  
Still no answer.

"Tom, what a…"

"Shut up, I'm thinking! He shouted and Cyngus quieted immediately.

Tom kept thinking. Thinking about what was going to happen during the summer. If he could stay at Hogwarts instead of going back to that pathetic orphanage. He wanted to stay. Not a chance he would want to go back to all those muggles.  
He had had enough of his own thoughts. It wasn't summer yet. It was barely fall. Okey, it started to get a bit cold and the leaves were falling from the trees, but it wasn't much more than that. The sun was shining and the lake was glistening.  
Tom loved fall. There were so many colors then. Not that he likes light and happy colors. He had never done that, but he did like the colors of nature. He could sit for hour just to look at the water and its colors. How it was never the same. He barely had time to stop thinking, before standing up and walking back to the castle again. Cygnus and Abraxas looked at each other before standing up as well and followed Tom quietly. He went straight to the common room in the dungeons to get is books. He had transfiguration with Dumbledore next, and the last thing he wanted to be was late. Not that he usually was, but he had to admit there had been times.

He was early and stood in the hallway about five minutes before the others started to show up. Including Melinda, who showed up at his side along with all the other girls in the class.

"Tom?" she said and looked at him in a strange way.

"Mm", he mumbled absent

"Look. I'm sorry for being gone the last couple of days, but I'm thinking about Rose all the time. I really hope that she's all right.

"It's okey. Are you feeling any better?" he asked and looked at her with a fake compassion.  
She nodded and sighed.

"I'm sure she's all right. Maybe she just doesn't want to be in school right now", he lied and Melinda stiffened.

"You don't even care. You fought all the time", she answered and big tears started to fall down her cheeks. "Moreover Mikelle was attacked by the octopus as well. It's just too much.

"I know", he said and gave her a loose hug.

Suddenly the door opened and a class stepped out. Tom presumed it was first years and entered the classroom.  
He sat down on a bench and Melinda made and attempt to sit down next to him, but an evil glare from Tom stopped her. Instead, Cyngus sat down beside him and Abraxas sat down next to Melinda in the bench in front of them.

Apparently, the parts had switched and now it was Cygnus who was with him the most. It had actually been like this since the year started so he didn't really know why it came to mind right now. He shook the thought away and forced himself to listen to what Dumbledore said.

It was a boring lesson and when it ended an hour later there was many who practically laid down in the benches. For once Tom didn't care. He had found the lesson quite interesting. Or well, interesting to be Dumbledore  
Tom went down the staircases to the common room, just to sink down in an armchair. He threw the books at the table in front of him.  
He stared at the watch and groaned before summoning the Defense against the dark arts book, a parchment and a feather pen.  
Then he started working on his homework.

An hour and a half later he was done. They didn't start the next lesson until an hour so he found it best to start with the other homework as well. It was better to do them now instead of in the last minute. That was unfortunately, what Abraxas and Cygnus seemed to have in mind.  
They came from the kitchen when he was still writing. That wasn't very hard to figure out. Nor what they had eaten when they had cream all around their mouths.  
Tom motioned for them to come and whispered something in their ear. They gave each other a look before quickly wiping the cream away. Tom smirked and continued with his homework.

"I don't get why you have this much homework. I'm mean, if you don't learn anything from it, it's just a waste of time", Abraxas said and sat down in the couch.

"I agree", Cygnus said." It's just another form of torture. By bury us in a pile of homework every week.

"I know worse ways to torture people", Tom said in a low voice and Abraxas and Cygnus stiffened. "Do your homework and you might not see how."

"You're mean", Cygnus whined, but at least they did what they were told.

Actually, they didn't do much since the lesson started in less then fifteen minutes. Tom had always liked defense against the dark arts. He found it fascinating in some way. Today's lesson was held outside. The professor said something about being out as much as you can in the lovely weather.

An hour later, the lesson ended and when no one saw him, Tom sneaked into the forbidden forest. There he could relax. He has all alone. Just him and the nature. Just like he wanted it to be. It was still sunny and him sat down and leaned against a tree.

Suddenly a branch cracked and Tom flew up pointing the wand into nowhere. He lowered it when he noticed what it was that had caused the sound.

"Just a hippogriff", he mumbled to himself and took and deep breath.

It was really beautiful. This one as almost completely black, but if you looked closely you could notice some brown spots as well, apart from his right foreleg, which was white.  
Tom had never seen them this closely before and was quite amazed it hadn't attacked him yet.  
At least he knew what to do now. He looked it in the eyes and bent slightly forward, without losing eye contact. The hippogriff bowed as well and Tom realized it was safe to touch it now. He took a couple of steps forward and stretched out a hand. It sniffed at him a bit, before deciding that he was harmless. Tom patted the beak and neck before letting it walk deeper in the forest.  
Self he ran back to the castle for dinner.

Just a couple of minutes later he sat at the Slytherin table and ate chicken and rise. He finished quickly just to get back to the common room to finish his homework.

It took longer time then he had expected and just like that, it was eleven O'clock. Tom put his books down and was about to leave for the dormitory when he heard a loud bang.

**So? What do you think? No to terrible I hope. If there are any great mistakes please tell me and I promise I will take a look on them. I would also like some reviews if that's not to much to ask for. Thank you.**


	5. The snake

**Chapter 5: The snake**

Tom quickly turned around and stared out in the darkness. He felt something slithering up his leg and suddenly squeezed it so hard that he fell backwards. It wasn't until then he could see what it was. He panted when he realized it was just a snake. Okey, maybe not just, because it was pretty big. Around 3.2 feet perhaps.

"Let go of me", he hissed and the snake loosened his grip and slithered off him.

"I've heard of you master Riddle", the snake hissed back and looked him in the eyes.

"Fun for me", Tom hissed and stood up.

He continued towards the dormitory without saying any more to the snake, which followed him. He didn't even care when the snake wrapped up under the cover and fell asleep.

The next morning Tom woke up with a jerk. Something had tickled him under his foot and he did not like it. He threw away the cover and remembered what had happened last night. Abraxas and Cyngus seemed to have awakened as well and stared first at the snake and then at Tom.

"What?" He asked irritated and they stopped staring.

"Nothing", Abraxas said quickly and left for the common room.

Tom stayed with raised eyebrows. It was unusual for Abraxas to be so brief. He looked at Cyngus, who shrugged. He sighed and started to get dressed. When all he had left was his shirt, he realized the snake laid on top of it.

"Move", he hissed and the snake slithered away slowly.

He picked the shirt up from the floor and put it on.  
The snake slithered up his leg, but Tom pushed her down again. It slithered cranky away into another corner and laid on top of another shirt.

"Make sure no one sees you", Tom hissed in a quiet voice before exiting the room.

"Who's the snake?" Cygnus asked on their way to the common room.

"No idea", Tom answered and stopped in front of Abraxas who looked up.

"Hi", he said and stood up.

"You were…how should I put it...Brief, today" Tom stated.

"I don't like snakes", Abraxas answered in a low voice.

Tom shrugged and went towards the exit.

He started to walk towards the Great Hall. He sat down on the edge of the table, took some bread, and started eating. Cygnus and Abraxas sat down in front of him and he nodded.

Suddenly he felt very ill. So ill, he just wanted to vomit all over the table. He felt his eyes close several times and if it hadn't been Cygnus being so fast he would have fallen off the chair.

The next thing he knew he was in the hospital wing, feeling very weak. He had his suspicions about the snake, but he couldn't tell that to madam Hopkins.  
She stated that he was poisoned, as if he hadn't figured that out, and went for a cure.

"Drink this and you'll feel better in no time", she said when she returned and gave him a vial of something that smelled very bad.

Tom swallowed it all and was very surprised at the taste. It tasted much better then he thought it would do.

The illness went away almost immediately and he was free to leave after barely half an hour. He went back to the common room. He really needed to talk to that snake.  
He found her exactly where he left her.

"What was that good for?" he hissed.

"What?" The snake answered and slithered up at Tom's bed.

"To poison me of course", Tom hissed and the snake hissed contented back.

"I didn't mean it. I just wanted to see what would happen."

"Good", Tom hissed. "What's your name by the way?"

The snake hissed something Tom didn't get.

"What did you say?"

"I said: My name is Nagini."


	6. Tom Crucio Voldemort

**Thank Melora for this chapter. Thank you so much for your review. You inpired me to publish this chapter today. If anyone is intrested in knowin what I am doing this weekeed, I can tell yuo that it's totally based on a complete cleaning of my room and studing for some tests I have next week. Don't forget to tell me what you think.**

**Chapter 6: Tom + Crucio = Voldemort**

Tom stared at Nagini before turning around and walked back to the common room. He still didn't understand how she had poisoned him. He stared at Abraxas and Cyngus who sat in a corner and talked about something. Before them there laid a couple of books. Tom presumed they were supposed to do their homework. He went to them and the stopped talking.

"What do you want?" Abraxas asked mockingly.  
Tom looked around and noticed the common room was empty. He was already angry and it didn't get better when Abraxas pretty much begged for punishment. He took a step forward and hit Abraxas so hard that he fell of the chair. He did the same to Cyngus before sitting down in an armchair. He was furious and apparently both of his friends noticed, because they disappeared without a word.

Suddenly a boy entered the common room. Tom wanted to be alone and any other Slytherin student knew that when he wanted to be alone, it was best to leave him alone. Apparently, this boy did not know. Instead, he threw his books on an empty table and say down to do his homework.

"Come here", Tom commanded and the boy looked up, but he didn't come.

"I said: Come here, Michael", he repeated.  
This time he thought obeying was a good thing to do and walked over to Tom.

"Abraxas! Cygnus!" he yelled and his friends came back after a couple of seconds.

"Yes?" They said and looked at Michael.  
Tom sat for a moment, trying to control his anger, before speaking.

"Tea", he said and Abraxas and Cygnus vanished without a word.

Michael mad an attempt to get back to his homework, when Tom grabbed his shirt. He didn't say a word to the boy. It wasn't necessary. He let go of they your Slytherin student when he noticed he had understood.  
Michael went fast to his table and pushed the books back in the book before exiting the common room.

Short after, Melinda entered the common room. She attempted to turn, when Tom raised his hand and motioned for her to come. He stood up and left for the dormitory. Melinda followed.

Inside the doors, Nagini slept. Tom kicked her so hard she flew into the wall, before sitting down on a bed.

"Melinda." It was actually an effort just to keep his voice calm.

He was about to open his mouth when the door flew up and a couple of boys entered the room. They seemed to have pretty fun, because they laughed very loud.  
Tom noticed a couple of girls with them as well, but what really angered Tom was that Cygnus and Abraxas were with them. Melinda gave him an insecure look and he nodded. She left instantly.

"Shut up!" he screamed and the silence was total. You could probable hear a needle fall to the floor.

One of the boys opened his mouth when the first shock was over, but he didn't seem able to speak. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth again.

"Who the hell do you thing you are, Riddle?" he said and Tom was shocked over his tone. It was superior and seemed to mean that he was better then him.

"I don't like you tone, Malcolm", Tom said with an angry voice. Even Malcolm seemed worried before he continued.

"Where did you girlfriend go?" he teased.

"Abraxas, Cyngus" he said and nodded towards the exit. "I'll deal with you later" His friends shuddered before exiting the room. Then his gaze went back to Malcolm once again. With a flick of his wand, the door was locked. Then he pointed it at Malcolm.

"Crucio!" he screamed.

Tom watched his tormented expression and when the boy didn't scream, he doubled the doze. Now he screamed and Tom enjoyed it. He loved to torture people.

Half a minute later, he removed the curse and put him under another instead. This one prevented him from telling anyone what really happened. If he did, it would mean torture. Maybe not the way the Cruciatus worked, but it would sure hurt. Just a reminder.

Tom sighed before sending them away. Now, he had at least relieved his anger and left the dormitory as well. He started his lesson in History of magic soon and he didn't want to be late.

An hour and a half later, the lesson ended and he went back to the dormitory again. Cygnus and Abraxas walked slowly behind him. He stopped in the middle of an empty hallway and for the second time this day, he hit both Abraxas and Cyngus so hard that they fell to the ground with a groan. It was enough. He had had enough with punishments today.

In the evening, he lay in his bed and was thinking about how much he had been through this day.

Half an hour later he admitted to himself that he couldn't sleep and walked back to the common room to finish some homework. It was at least something to do when you couldn't sleep.

A couple of minutes later he had sunken too deep in his homework that he didn't even notice the man sneaking up behind him. At least not until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Then he turned around. There was no one there. He kept working with the homework until he felt that hand again. He turned around once again, but there was still no one there.

It wasn't until half an hour later, when he was going to be again, that he notice a small shadow flutter on the wall. Determined, Tom followed it into a hidden part of the castle. There it stopped and threw a curse against him. He had no chance to react and fell straight to the floor. He knew who it was now. It was the last thing on his mind before losing consciousness.

TBC...


	7. The duel

**Chapter 7: The duel**

When Tom woke up, he had a horrible headache. He tried to move, but noticed his hands were tied behind his back. He groaned but succeeded in sitting up. Far away, he heard a branch break and realized that whoever had kidnapped him had brought him down to the forbidden forest. His vision started to come back and his headache seemed to be a little better. In the darkness, he could discern a small rock and slid slowly over to it. He started cutting the ropes with it and was relieved when the ropes loosened.

Right when he had finished, the branches cracked once again and Tom stood up. He reached for his wand in his pocket and was not surprised when it wasn't there. Apparently, the man who kidnapped him had been smart enough to take it from him. He was screwed. He knew it. He was weakened and on top of that, he didn't have his wand. He leaned against a tree and breathed heavily. The person came closer and closer and Tom could finally see who it was, but unfortunately, he didn't recognize him. He knew he had seen him before, but he couldn't remember where.

"What do you want from me?" he asked and let go of the tree. He did not want to prove himself weak in front of the stranger.

"What I want with you? I know what you did to Rose and I'm not going to let you do it to other people as well", he answered.

"I haven't done anything to Rose", he started. "It was someone else."

"Haven't you parents taught you not to lie? Oh, I'm sorry, you don't have any parents. Silly me", the stranger said.

"Prove it", Tom said mockingly. "What's your name and how did you know Rose?"

"My name is Nicholas, but you can call me Nick if you want to. Rose was my sister."  
Now it hit Tom who it was. He had been a Slytherin as well before finishing it during Toms third year.

"How about a duel" he asked and smirked.

"Why not", Nick answered. "Here's your wand."  
He threw the wand at Tom who caught it and positioned himself. He was not going to let Nick win this battle.

"Stupefy!" Nick screamed, which made Tom jump out of the way.

"Serpensortia!" Tom shouted and a snake shot out from Tom's wand. He ordered the snake to paralyze and not kill Nick. He saw Nicks surprised look when he hissed and just as expected he didn't recover fast enough to stop the snake, which had slithered to him and bit him hard in the leg.  
Nick screamed and fell backwards.  
To Toms delight, he could see Nick struggle to move.

"You didn't really think you could win, did you?" he said and snorted.  
Nick said nothing. Not that he could have done even if he would have wanted to since the poison probably had paralyzed the vocal cords.  
Tom sighed once again and erased Nick's memories before leaving. The dueling had done nothing good for his head and he stumbled out of the forest. When he was out, he could barely stand on his feet and when he got as far as to the entry he passed out, exhausted.

When he woke up, he was in the hospital wing. Melinda, Cygnus and Abraxas were sitting next to him, looking very worried.

"What happened?" He asked and sat up. His friends looked at him with relief in their eyes.

"Madam Hopkins said that you had a shortage of water and was exhausted", Melinda said before the other could answer.

"Where the hell have you been, Tom?" Abraxas asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been gone for three days", Cygnus said and turned around when the door opened. It was Dumbledore and Dippet.

"We'll see you later", Melinda said and the three of the left the room.

"Where have you been?" the headmaster asked.

"I'm not really sure, headmaster", he answered truthfully. "I remember that I couldn't sleep and went to the common room to do some homework. Then I heard something and turned around. Then someone hit me and I lost consciousness." It was almost the truth.

"What happened when you woke up?"

"I woke up in the forbidden forest and I'm not really sure how I was able to walk back to the school. I can't remember any of it.

"You'll have to leave now. Mr. Riddle needs to rest." Madam Hopkins said and gave Tom a glass with some fluid in it.

"Drink it. It will give you a dreamless sleep. You will also sleep for as long as you need to. Tom nodded and swallowed the fluid.

He was very close to spit it out as well, but forced himself to swallow. When he had gotten it down, he started coughing. Then he started to get sleepy and just to keep his eyes open became hard. He slept in less then a minute.

When he woke up the next time the clock was almost as much as it had been when he fell asleep, which meant that he had slept for almost 24 hours. He stretched himself and yawned,

"I told you would sleep for as long as you needed to", Madam Hopkins said when she entered the room a couple of minutes later.  
Tom nodded.

"Can I leave now?" he asked and Madam Hopkins nodded.

He thanked her, got dressed and went back to the common room where he found Melinda Cyngus and Abraxas playing Exploding snap.

"May I join you? He asked, even though he already knew the answer.  
They nodded and gathered the card before handing him a pile.

An hour later, he was still undefeated. Tom suspected strongly that they let him win. Not that he minded. He was used to get what he wanted.

"I'll go to bed", he said a couple of minutes later and stood up.  
Not that he was tired, more the other way around actually, but he didn't want to turn day and night. If he didn't, we wouldn't be able to sleep for almost 24 hours. Not that he cared, it was just the fact that he didn't want to miss any more lessons. He had no idea how many lessons he had already missed, but he was pretty sure he hadn't been a full day in school yet. Or maybe the first week. He wasn't really sure.  
He quickly changed into a pajama and crawled into bed. He lay there, thinking about what had happed to his this year. Nagini slept at his feet. Tom smiled and closed his eyes.  
He woke up a couple of hours later when the door to the dormitory opened and Cyngus and Abraxas entered it.

"Haven't you gone to sleep yet?" he asked, looking surprisingly at them.  
They shook their heads and changed into their pajamas. Tom just sighed, before turning around and fell asleep again.

When he woke up the next time, it was half past six. In the bed next to him, Abraxas laid, snoring high.  
Tom covered his ears and yawned. He quickly changed into a robe and threw a pillow at Abraxas, who woke up immediately.

"What?" he asked sleepy and looked around.

"You're snoring", Tom stated and opened the door to the common room. "We're starting in half an hour. Hurry up."  
Abraxas nodded and tried to wake Cyngus up. Tom sighed again and kept walking against the common room. He hated early mornings, but unfortunately, he seemed to be forced to have them during school. He looked around in the common room, before continuing against the Great Hall, where he sat down at the edge of the table. The other Slytherin students seemed surprised, but also relieved that he chose not to sit with them this morning. They didn't like him. Tom knew that. Sadly, there was not much to do about it. Tom would be stating there for another year and until he finished they just had to endure him.

When he had finished he left the Great Hall and was just about to go back to the common room when he noticed a bunch of students staring at a paper on the notice board. He went closer to see what it said and was not surprised that it was a note about Halloween. Apparently, there was a party for everyone interested. Tom wasn't, but he believed both Cygnus and Abraxas were. Maybe even Melinda. It was on October 31 and it was the girls turn to ask the boys out. Tom sighed before walking back to the dungeons. On his way there, he bumped into his friends. Cygnus looked newly wake and couldn't have been awake for very long. Tom shook his head and kept walking. Cyngus and Abraxas went to the Great Hall.

About twenty minutes later they came back and everything they was talking about was the party.

Another couple of minutes later, Melinda showed up and sat down in front of Tom, looking expectantly at him.

"Tom? Would you like to go to the party with me?" she asked, looking even more expectant then before.

**Finally another chapter if someone is intrested. Please post a review and tell me if you liked it.**


	8. Operation Melinda

**Chapter 8: Operation Melinda**

Tom stared at her with surprise. It was the last question he would have expected her to say.

"I have to think about it", he said and rose from the chair. Melinda followed his example.

"I thought you would say no", she giggled.

"I have said neither yes nor no", he said before picking up his books and went for a divination class.

I was worse then even and he was bored even before the lesson started. He went saddened down against the common room to switch books as he thought of what he was going to tell Melinda. He wasn't sure, but it leaned against yes. Not that he liked her, but at least then, he had a reason for denying the other girls in school, who usually asked him in occasions like this.

As expected, he bumped into her in the common room. She ran over to him and looked expectant on him.

"Have you decided yet?"

"I'm not sure", he lied.

"Please Tom", she begged.

"All right. I'll go to that damn party with you if it's so important", he burst out. He saw Melinda's shocked expression turning into happiness and she hugged him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she screamed out of joy.

"Yes. Could you let go of me now?"

"I'm sorry", she said and let go immediately.

A minute later, they sat in the couch when Abraxas and Cygnus joined them.

"I guess you said yes", stated Cygnus surprised.  
Tom gave him a sour look and shrugged.

"Sorry for being curious, bet I do take that as a yes.

An hour later Tom exited the transfiguration classroom along with a couple of girls. He shook them of and went back to the Slytherin common room, where he left his books and went back to the Great Hall. It was lunchtime. Not that Tom was hungry. He never was and maybe that would explain why he didn't eat very much.

A while later Abraxas and Cygnus came back, along with Melinda who sat down on his left side. Tom, who was finished raised and saw the other ones surprised looks. He sighed and they started the whispering. He strongly suspected it to be about him, but as many other things, he didn't care about it very much.

Tom kept pacing down against the common room when he bumped into Michael again.

"Tom", he started shyly.

"What", he muttered.

"Well, I kind of need your help with something."

"With what exactly?"

"A potion homework. I've tried but I can't get it to work properly."

"Maybe. I'll see. If I'm in the mood", he said and kept pacing.

"Please Tom. It's important."

"What part of If I'm in the mood didn't you get. Continue like this and I will certainly not be in the mood later. Understood?"

"But…"

"Not buts. Do as I say and I might help you later. Understood?"

"Yes", Michael sighed, defeated.

Tom smiled satisfied and turned to the entry of the common room.

"Password", the statue asked in a bored voice.

"Pure blood", he answered and the doorway opened.

He went in, picked up his schedule and looked at it.  
Unfortunately, he seemed to have History of Magic in less then an hour before he could call it a day. Then he had astronomy at midnight but that was actually kind of fun so he didn't mind having it.  
He sighed again before gathering his books and started with his homework.

He finished ten minutes before the lesson started and went to the classroom. It was just as boring as ever.

When the lesson ended and he stood and the common room he noticed Michael bending over his potion book.  
He decided to sneak up from behind, so that he would be unnoticed.

"What are you doing?" he asked strictly.

Michael gave a jump and turned around.

"I'm looking for some answers for my homework", he answered when he had recovered from the shock.

"In my books?" Michael nodded and stared at the floor, ashamed.

"Did you find what you were looking for?

"No", Michael muttered.

"What are you looking for?"

"A polyjuice potion", he answered in a casual voice.

"And what would you need that for? Second years hardy get to know about it yet. Believe me. Not even we have tried to do it yet", Tom declared and Michael looked ingenious at him.

"Nothing", he answered slowly.

Tom thought it was too slow and since he was pretty skilled in legilimency, he knew Michael was lying to him.  
He sat down in an armchair and motioned for the younger boy to do the same. Michael seemed to listen very closely on what Tom had in mind.

"What do you need the potion for?" he asked again. This time much calmer. This made Michael a bit nervous.

"Nothing I said." Michael was a stubborn kid.

"Michael. I would prefer if you did not lie to me. I would make things so much easier for both you and me."

A couple of minutes later Michael gave up and Tom triumphed. He listened carefully at every word Michael told him, before a girl came to him.  
"Will you go to the party with me?" she asked hopefully.  
"I'm already busy", he said offhanded and stood up." Don't touch my books again, or I will get mad at you", he said and left before barely even finishing the sentence.  
He left behind him Michael and a crushed girl.

Right when he was leaving, Melinda approached him and smiled. He did not smile back, which made her smile weaken.

"Are you mad?" she asked and tilted her head to one side, just like a dog would do.

"A bit. Could you do me a favor?" He already knew the answer but it never hurt to ask.

"Of course. Anything for you. I thought you knew that."

"Good", he said before laying an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close enough to tell her without everyone listening.

When he had finished she nodded and turned to leave, but he pulled her pack and kissed her cheek. Not that he liked her, or at least he thought he didn't, but he needed her allegiance if his plan was supposed to work. He had to make her believe he loved her.  
Love, what a silly word. It didn't exist in his vocabulary. He used people and made them believe he loved them. Made them obey every word of his and when they realized what they had done it was too late. He had done it with Rose, even though no one knew about it. Then she started to get disobedient and he had been forced to kill her before she had the chance to finish what he wanted her to do.

Half an hour later Melinda returned, carrying a book. She gave it to him and he kissed her once again. The one thing different was that he this time kissed her on her mouth. She blushed and the other girls stared at her, mad with envy and surprise.  
Tom didn't care, but still gave them a angry look before standing up. Melinda took his hand, but he shook his head and she let go of it just as fast.

He wandered around the castle without thinking very much about where he was. One time he accidentally bumped into a couple of Ravenclaw first years, but they disappeared when he asked them. Or asked, rather spat at them.

An hour later, he was back in the common room. At was nearly empty, but the vision shocked him very much.


	9. Halloween

**Chapter 9: Halloween**

In a sofa, not far from where Tom was standing Melinda sat and had sunken into a very deep kiss with another boy. He was mad. Not only because the boy seemed to be a Gryffindor, but the was also mad at Melinda. First from letting him into their common room, and second from kissing him and was breaking his trust. She was the one who asked him, not the other way around and he had told her yes. He was furious. He was standing in front of the so-called couple in no time. Melinda interrupted their kiss and stood up, only to get slapped and fell down in the sofa again. Tom erased the Gryffindors memory and removed a couple of points for being in the wrong common room, before kicking him out.

After that, he sat down in an armchair and looked curiously at Melinda, who still sat in the sofa her hand covering her now slightly red cheek.

"A Gryffindor? Melinda, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I swear I don't know. Tom you have to believe me when I say I have not the slightest idea of what just happened. He gave me something", Melinda announced looking very miserable.

Tom skimmed her brain and surprisingly he found that she was telling the truth.

"I believe you. What was it he gave you? Amortentia?"

"I'm not sure, but I think so", she answered.

Tom sighed, but smiled. "I'm still angry about it being a Gryffindor."

"What do think I am? Happy? I feel so pathetic."

"What? What makes you say that? You are anything but pathetic, sweetheart. You are probably the most brilliant person in this school after me, and do people think of me as pathetic. I do not think so. Did anyone tell you that you're pathetic?" Melinda shooked her head, feeling a bit better. He gave her a loose hug before noticing Abraxas and Cygnus coming against them. As usual, they sat down beside Tom and Melinda. Tom sighed one more before standing up. He needed some rest before the astronomy lesson tonight.

He woke up around half past eleven, got dressed and walked against the astronomy tower. He had no idea of what they were going to do today, since the sky was very cloudy and it would be hard for them to do something with the stars of something like that.

Twenty minutes later, they sat on the floor in the tower with a paper in their hands. They were supposed to look up the constellations and their names. The next time they were supposed to try to find them in the sky. It was a calm lesson and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Around maybe forty minutes later, they were told to go to bed. Tom, as well as the others, went straight to bed and at least Tom fell asleep before even changing his clothes.

A week later it was October 31 and time for the Halloween party. Tom had decided to go with Melinda, despite what she did, since it technically hadn't been her fault.

He was dressed in a black suit. He had never liked masquerade and fortunately, you didn't have to wear a mask. Melinda stood beside him and had to endure a couple of jealous faces. Tom had been asked more then once if he wanted to go to the party with them and every time he had to say that he already had someone else to go with. The girls had just sighed and kept looking, knowing not to ask him twice.

The music started playing and many of the students had already started to dace. Tom asked Melinda Tom dance with him and she nodded briefly. The dance was calm, just the way he wanted it.

They had danced for hours when Tom stopped to have something to drink. While he was drinking, Melinda danced with several guys and Tom just stared at them.  
_At least she has the senses not to dance with any mudbloods_", he thought. At least that was progress. She had even said no when a mudblood from Gryffindor had asked her if she wanted to dance. She had told him that she didn't dance with any mudbloods. They boys had left with furious steps. Tom had just smiled at the scene.

A while later, he looked at his watch. It was already half past twelve, but he did not intend to go to bed just yet.  
A dance later Melinda came to him again and he took her back to the dance floor. She followed willingly.

They left the party after about two more dances. They were very careful not to get caught when they sneaked down to the forbidden forest. They walked there calmly in the moonlight and once they even saw a centaur.

They sat down on a pretty big rock and looked out over the Hogwarts ground.

"Tom? Melinda asked suddenly worried.

"Yes", he answered without moving his gaze.

"Isn't it full moon tonight?"

"Yes, why?"

"Tom, there could be werewolves here. Maybe we should leave."

"You are very pretty tonight, you know that?" he said and kissed her. He could see her blushing.

"Thank you", she said with a shyness he didn't recognize. "But you didn't answer my question."

"They won't hurt us, I promise", he said before kissing her again.

She nodded and kissed him back.

He had gotten her where he wanted. Now all he had to do was to see if he was willing to do what he asked of her. She wasn't likely to refuse, but he wanted so be sure.

An hour later, they laid next to each other on the ground, Very close to each other. They kissed each other.

When they woke the morning after they got dressed and went back to the castle without a word. Happy that they didn't have any lessons today.

When they got back to the common room, they sat down in a sofa and Melinda leaned against his shoulder while he read the potion homework. He wasn't in a hurry to do it actually, but he liked to have things done as soon as possible. Then he could think about things that were a bit more important then schoolwork. Like planning his next move.

All his papers were in the chamber of secrets, carefully guarded by the basilisk and a couple of self-invented spells.

When he had finished his carefully lay Melinda down on the sofa. She had fallen asleep a couple of minutes ago. He smiled and kissed her forehead before walking to the dormitory where he found Cyngus and Abraxas.

"Slowpokes", he muttered when he found that they were still sleeping.

He woke them up the same way he usually did. Like throwing a pillow at them. They woke up immediately and looked curiously at Tom.

"I didn't notice either you or Melinda coming back yesterday", Abraxas teased.  
He raised a hand, as if to protect himself from a hit that never came. Instead, Tom just smiled.

"What? Not outburst?" he continued.

"No, but if you don't shut up, there might be one", Tom threatened and Abraxas sighed, but said nothing more.

After a game of wizard chess with Cygnus, he went back to the common room and Melinda. She had woken up again and now sat up in the sofa. Tom sat down next to her and kissed her.

"Mel, I need you to do me a favor", he started.

"Anything for you, Tom", she said and kissed him again.


	10. Back in the Chamber of secrets

**Chapter 10: Back in the chamber of secrets**

He kissed her again and sighed.

"Come. I'll show you something", he answered and pulled her along with him.

"Tom where are we going?" she worriedly asked after a while.

"You'll see", he told her and made a turn at the second floor.  
He opened the chamber of secrets and motioned for Melinda to jump, which she did after a slight hesitation. Tom jumped after her with another sigh.

'_Man, she could really be such a pain in the ass sometimes.'__  
_  
He landed half a meter away from her and helper her to stand up before asking her to walk with him. After a while, he turned into a different passage.  
Suddenly, you could hear a slithering sound and Melinda gave a jump and squeezed Toms hand even harder.

"It's okey", he whispered and gave her a light kiss. She nodded, still not certain, and gave another jump when she heard the slithering again.

"When I tell you, you have to promise me to close your eyes. You understand?" he said and let go of her hand. "Wait here." Melinda nodded but did not let go of him.

"Please don't go. I'm scared."

"There's nothing to be afraid of, sweetheart", he said and she let go of him.  
He continued a bit further, until he entered the room where he had left all of his papers. The slithering sound returned, now sounding from behind him and he turned around.

"Melinda, close your eyes!" he yelled.

She screamed as well and he was by her side in no time.

"What happened?" he asked, now calm, and hugged her.

He could feel her shivering.

"I felt something touch my leg", she said and started crying.

"It's okey. Nothing's ever going to happen to you as long as I'm here. You understand?" he comforted her. "We have to keep going."

He pulled him with you into the small, dark room and locked the door behind them.  
In the middle of the room, there was a fire, which cast a green light in the room. It had taken Tom weeks, but he had recently found a way of making it glow for as long as he needed the chamber.

"Have a seat", he said and gestured her to sit down into what looked to be a pretty new armchair.

She did what she was told and he conjured a cup of tea for her.

"Drink this and you'll feel better in no time", he said and gave it to her.

She nodded before taking the cup and took a sip.

They were quiet for a long time, before Melinda opened her mouth.

"What was it that you wanted me to do again?" she asked and put the cup down.

"Right", he said, clearly abstracted and gave her a piece of paper.

She noticed her glancing threw the paper before giving it back to her.

"For you, then", she answered, before rising up with teary eyes.

"What now? Are you sad?" he asked her and removed he tear falling down her cheek.

She shook her head, but now knew she lied. She was clearly devastated. He didn't need legilimency to see that. He hugged her, before taking her out of there. They exited the chamber at a secret passage, which could only be used if you wanted to get out of the chamber. They walked back to the castle hand in hand and Tom knew that once this was over, he wouldn't be able to let go of her, and neither was she.

At once when they returned into the common room, Melinda and tom were separated.

"Where the hell have you been?" Cygnus wondered when he returned from the dormitory.

"How come you always are so curious?" Tom said, just as sarcastic as Cygnus had been.

"It's a gift", he replied with a casual voice.

"Ever heard of the saying Curiosity killed the cat?" Tom asked, and with that he finished the conversation and Cygnus left with a grin.

"What's the matter with him?" Tom asked and Abraxas sighed.

"New girlfriend", he said and stood up.

"Wait a minute. How? When? Who?"

"Since about", he looked at his watch. "Three hours. It was his date on the Halloween party."

"Druella Rosier?" Tom interrupted.

Abraxas nodded and left tom with his thoughts.

Tom threw himself at the bed and screamed as loud as he could into the pillow before the dormitory door opened and Cygnus and Druella entered, kissing intensively. Tom sat up in the bed and stared at them. They hadn't been together for more then 24 hours and already acted like they had dated for at least a year.  
Tom hawked and the kissing stopped immediately.

"Don't you guys ever knock?" he asked and they shook their heads in shame. Druella knew better then to question him. She had experienced what could happen if you were disobedient during his first year. Since then, they hadn't had very much contact. Sure, she had done a bit of his homework occasionally, but nowadays he usually did them himself. It was only if it was so easy that he already knew the whole text by heart. Then he told someone else to do them, usually Abraxas or Cyngus, but sometimes they had too much homework on their own that he just asked someone else to do it instead. Not that the amount of their homework mattered to him, but sometimes he pitied them.

He left Cyngus and Abraxas alone in the dormitory and sat down next to Abraxas in the common room. They young Malfoy boy bowed his head to greet his master and kept reading his book.

"What are you reading?" Tom asked and removed the book from Abraxas lap.

"Hogwarts, A history, he answered and reached out to grab it.

"Really, what have you found out?"

"A lot about Salazar Slytherin and the other founders and how they built the castle and some other fun stuff. Have you read it?"

"Are there any book at Hogwarts I haven't read?" Tom stated with a snort.

"Tom!" a voice almost screamed and Melinda came running. "You have to come quickly."

She sounded very frightened and Tom got out of the chair along with Abraxas who followed.  
They followed Melinda down to a secret passage.

Suddenly sounds of beating became louder. Someone apparently had chosen this hiding place to pick a fight. Judging by the sounds, it seemed to be pretty bad.  
They turned around a corner, just in time to see a Slytherin boy hit a Hufflepuff girl. He got ready to hit again, but Tom wasn't going to allow that.

In less then a second Tom was beside the Slytherin boy who was just ready for another punch. Before the fist hit the girl, Tom grabbed it and twisted it hard enough for the boy to groan in pain and pull back his hand.

"Abraxas take her to the Hospital Wing and explain to Madam Hopkins what happened." Abraxas nodded, brought the girl and left.

The boys friends left as well and left Tom alone with the boy. Melinda was of course there as well, but she wasn't counted as dangerous.

"What were you thinking?" Tom asked with an unnatural calm in his voice.

"She's a mudblood", he said and shrugged. "What does it matter if she gets hurt?"

"It does matter, because even if you're from Slytherin, it's not a way to treat a small girl and you know it", Tom said in a harsh voice.

"I can't believe that's coming from you. Treating people like nothing", the boy spat.

"What I do is none of your business", Tom said and grabbed the younger boy. "Come on."

He turned around, noticing Melinda still standing there.

"Thanks honey", he said and gave he a light kiss before taking the boy to the Headmasters office and knocked at the door.

"Enter", a voice called out and Tom opened the door.

"Tom, my boy, what has happened?" Dippet asked when he saw the boy that Tom was holding.

"He assaulted a girl from Hufflepuff and called her a mudblood, sir", Tom replied and pointed at the boy, who was now smirking.

"Thank you for bringing him here, Tom. Fifty points to Slytherin, but now you have to go. Good night Tom."

"Good night, sir", Tom said before turning back to the common room where he met Melinda.

"Tom we have to talk."

"Sure", he said and kissed her neck.

"I'm not sure I can handle this, Tom. It's so hard."

"I know sweetheart, but if someone can handle it, it's you", he said and kissed her again.

"Thank you", she said and answered the kiss.

"What are you thinking me for?" he asked very surprised. "You have nothing to thank me for."

"For having such an understanding boyfriend, of course", she said as if it would be the easiest thing in the world. "I love you."

"Me too. I have to go now."  
She nodded and kissed him one last time before returning to her dormitory.

Tom had to get out. Get some fresh air. He had a strange feeling. One that he could not place anywhere. He had never felt like this before. Could it be love? He wasn't sure. He had only planned to use her, but it had become so much more then that. The more he thought about it, the more certain were he. He didn't want this to be true. It wasn't what he needed now.

Suddenly it occurred to him that someone might had given him a love potion or something. He had to check it up back in the castle later, but until then, he would just enjoy the last sun.

All of a sudden, a branch cracked and Tom turned around.


	11. Mark and Melinda

**Chapter 11: Mark and Melinda**

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you", Melinda said before he could see who it was. He turned to the lake again.

"It really is beautiful." Melinda sat down beside him.

"Just like you", Tom said and gave her a kiss.

They sat there and looked at the lake for many hours before the sky started to darken.

"Come. We have to go", Tom said and stood up.

"Why?"

"It's going to get dark soon and I have homework to do."

"Let someone else do them."

"It's reading. I can't just tell someone to learn a couple a pages and then copy it."

"Why not? Sounds like a good idea to me", Melinda said but took his hand.

"It would just be humiliating and cheating. You know I don't cheat, Mel." She sighed, defeated and said nothing more. Tom could tell she was happy. The feeling he had had a couple of hours ago had vanished completely and he wasn't sure if he loved her at all.

They walked slowly, hand in hand, against the castle, but a gang from Slytherin stopped them. Probably seventh years. They were the only one in the house that didn't fear him.

"The schools new lovebirds", one of the boys said, probably the leader. "Honestly I had expected more from you Tom, and a mudblood as well."

"I'm no mudblood", Melinda burst out.

"Melinda's right. I'm I remember correctly, which I usually do, both of her parents are pureblood", Tom said, directing his words against the leader whose name Tom thought was Mark.

"And what are you? Half-blood", Mark laughed, having the rest of his friends to do the same. "And you try to convince us that you Slytherins heir as well. Even if we have never seen any proof of that."

"If proof is what you want, proof is what you'll get. Come on." Tom passed them with such strength that they could do nothing but to let him.

He led them straight to the second floor bathroom. The seventh years caught up with him and Melinda at the girls bathroom.

"What are we doing here?" Mark said, clearly nervous.

"You'll see", he said and started to hiss and the opening to the chamber of secrets was revealed. "Who dares to jump?" he asked and Melinda jumped without hesitations.

"If the mudblood dares, I'll dare to", Mark snorted and jumped as well.

"No one else?"

The other ones shook their head and ran as fast as they could.

"Don't tell anyone!" he screamed after them and received only distant voiced for answers.

Tom presumed they said yes. Then he followed the other ones down to the chamber.

That wasn't dangerous, now was it?" he said when he landed next to Melinda and Mark.

"Where are we?" Marks voice seemed to tremble a bit.

"In the chamber of secrets of course. Where did you think? Voldemort retorted as if nothing would be clearer. "Come on, I'll show you."

"Tom, what if your pet decides to show up again." It was clear that she was very worried.

"Relax. She'll only come if I'll summon her", he replied coldly and kept walking until they got to the main chamber where he had killed Rose. Melinda had of course no memory of this since he had been forced to erase it a couple of weeks ago. It was lucky he had made sure to clean up the mess before he brought Melinda here again.

"And what does this prove? Hardly that you're the heir of Slytherin", Mark smirked.

"No, you're right, it doesn't", he said and hissed something in parseltongue. "Now, you'll meet my pet."

"And what exactly are your pet?

"A basilisk", Melinda said, sticking out her tongue and grabbed Toms hand.

"Scared?"

"A bit, but not like the last time", she admitted and kissed him.

Mark just looked disgusted.

"Now all you have to do is wait", Tom announced and conjured three armchairs so that they could wait comfortable.

"Mark, when the basilisk arrives I need to ask you to close your eyes", Tom started.

"Why", he wanted no know.

"Because otherwise you're going to die", Tom said and shrugged, like it didn't really matter to him.

Outside the chamber, you could her as slithering sound and his pet came closer within seconds.

"Close your eyes", he orders and they obeyed.

"Come here my friend", he hissed and touched the scale.

"What does master want? The snake replied.

"I want my friends to see you and to do that you'll have to look somewhere else and not at them. You understand?" he hissed and nodded against his girlfriend and the blonde boy.

"As you wish master. Not that I like it, but I'll do as you say."

He spoke calmly with the snake for a couple more minutes before he told Melinda and Mark to open their eyes. Tom had never seen anyone as surprised as Mark seemed to be.

"You're kidding me", he asked, shocked.

"Why should I", Voldemort said and sat down. "Any more doubts."

Mark shook his head violently and stared, still under shock at the snake as if he thought it was a dream. Tom noticed that he even when so far as pinching himself just to make sure and got even more despaired when he didn't wake up.

"You can go no, my friend", he hissed and it slid away. Tom noticed that Melinda was trying to remember what had happened here. Apparently, seeing the snake would break the memory spell put on her.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?" He took her hand and gave her a slight hug.

"Nothing. Can we go now?" Tom nodded at her question and led them out of the chamber. This time, they managed to get back to the girls bathroom where they started. They walked back to the common room with Mark behind their backs.

Tom checked his watch and froze for a moment. Time past very fast down in the chamber. Is was already ten-thirty and they had lessons tomorrow. He kissed Melinda good night and went to the dormitory, where Abraxas and Cygnus awaited him. He told them what he had done and they burst into laughter.

Just minutes later they lay in a pile on the floor, laughing. Apparently both Abraxas and Cygnus had found it just as fun as Tom had done. Nevertheless, it had been very fun to see Marks expression. Something like that, Tom thought, you will only see once in a lifetime. He didn't know how wrong he was. When they had recovered enough to stand up, they quickly changed into their pajamas and their laugh continued in bed. Sometime in the middle of it, he must have fallen asleep because he couldn't remember when he stopped laughing. He woke up with a jerk when he heard screams. It sounded like Melinda, but he couldn't be certain. He threw the cover off him and rushed towards the common room where he found Melinda. There was something wrong with her, he knew that immediately. He picked her up and carried her to the Hospital wing, where he put her down in a bed before waking Madam Hopkins.

"Poison", she stated and threw him out.

Tom tried to protest, but it was no use. He went back to the common room where he picked up a book to read. Only a couple of minutes later he realized he worried to much about Melinda to be reading. And if he came to that conclusion, he knew he loved her.

Somewhere in the middle of all worried, he must have fallen asleep because he woke up by someone knocking at his shoulder.

"Tom, the first lesson starts in less then fifteen minutes", Abraxas said and left him alone.

Tom nodded, picked up his books and followed the rest of them.

The lesion was as boring a lesson could be and since he was worried about Melinda this wasn't one of his best lessons, like it usually was.

As soon as the lesson ended he ran upstairs to the Hospital Wing, but to his great chagrin, he still wasn't allowed to see her.  
Tomorrow, Madam Hopkins had said and Tom went back to the common room with heavy steps. He switched books and went to the next class, still worried about Melinda.

He went to bed early that night. Nagini lay, as usual, at his feet and Tom wondered for a short second if she had anything to do with this.

"Nagini", he whispered in snake language and the snake moved its head a bit.

"Yes, master", she answered.

"Have you poisoned anyone but me, since you got here?"

"No, master", she replied and Tom smiled.

The morning after he woke up early and the first thing he did, after getting dressed, was visiting Melinda. He carefully opened the door and looked around. All the beds were empty. He went straight to Madam Hopkins room and knocked hard on the door. It took a while before she opened, but she didn't seem very surprised to see her here.

"Where's Melinda. She's not in any bed.

"Well, it's like this, Mr. Riddle", she started.

"What?" he interrupted.

"If you didn't interrupt me you would know sooner", she snorted and sighed.

"I'm sorry", Tom said, ashamed of himself and waited very tensely on what Madam Hopkins was going to say.


	12. Missed

**Song sung by Nina Gordon.  
Title: Tonight and the rest of my life.**

**Chapter 12: Missed**

Down to the earth I fell  
With dripping wings  
Heavy things won't fly  
And the sky might catch on fire  
And burn the axis of the world  
That's why I prefer a sunless sky  
To the glittering and stinging in my eyes

I feel so light  
This is all I want to feel tonight  
I feel so light  
Tonight and the rest of my life

Gleaming in the dark sea  
I'm as light as air  
Floating there breathlessly  
When the dream dissolves  
I open up my eyes  
I realize that  
Everything is shoreless sea  
A weightlessness is passing over me

"Miss. Rocko is currently resting at Sankt Mungos. Her situation is critical and we don't know if she'll survive or not.

"But how?"

"We don't know. They had never seen a poison like this before."

Tom slowly went back to the empty common room to collect his books before continuing to the Great Hall.  
He took and sandwich with some butter. He ate it calmly, before checking the schedule and noticed that they had potions in less then half an hour.

He finished and went down to the classroom, sat down on a bench and waited for Slughorn to arrive. The man did so twenty minutes later. The other students came and Slughorn told then that they were to continue with the love potion they started last time. Not that Tom could concentrate very well; in fact, he could hardy concentrate on anything but Melinda.

"Relax Tom, she'll be back before you know it", Cyngus whispered and he nodded.

An hour later, the lesson ended and no one had been able to do the potion correctly. Not even Tom, since all he could think about was Melinda.  
Slughorn seemed very disappointed when he looked down in Toms cauldron. The potion was supposed to be red, but Tom somehow managed to get it pink.  
After class, Tom went back to the Infirmary to ask if Madam Hopkins knew something more about his girlfriend. She didn't, but gave him a anti depressive potion. After that, he felt a lot better and went to the transfiguration class with new courage. It went a bit better then the last one and when it finally ended one and a half hour later we went straight back to the common room, where he laid down on a sofa.

"Aren't you going to eat something?" Abraxas seemed to be worried.

"No", he replied with a sigh.

"You have to eat something."

"Are you deaf? Leave me alone!" He yelled the last part and Abraxas could do nothing but to obey his master. Even if he didn't like it.

Tom continued to stare at the ceiling.

Suddenly a thought hit him and a practically ran to the dormitory where he woke Nagini up.

"You know what made Melinda sick, don't you?" he hissed and began to look uncomfortable. "Why didn't you say anything?

"You wanted me to tell you if I had poisoned her and I said no", the snaked hissed, angry

"Then who was it?"

"That boy you brought to the chamber. HE gave her something and she fell to the floor. Then he left you girlfriend to die."

"Mark! Tom screamed furious and ran back to the common room.

He found him in a sofa along with some younger friends, who all looked terrified when Tom approached them.

"We have to talk", he whispered trough his teeth and dragged him out of there.

"Relax, let go of me. What happened", Mark asked and Tom let go of him.

"Melinda", he said and sighed.

"The mudblood?"

"She's not a mudblood", Tom persisted and punched him hard and Mark groaned in pain. He quickly recovered and looked even more rebellious then he had done before.

"I presume you have found out what I did to her." He gave Tom a smirk.

Tom nodded and before Mark was able to react, Tom screamed:

"Crucio!"

He let it last for a couple of minutes before letting the curse run off and Mark fell exhausted down to the floor.  
Tom couldn't understand how he had been able to stand trough the whole curse, but at the moment he was to angry to care.

"Is there any antidote?"

"No", Mark smiled. "She'll die."

"Not if I can stop it."

Tom went back to the common room and was very relieved to see that both Cygnus and Abraxas had finished their lunch.

"Come", he said and pulled them along with him.

"Tom, we're going to miss our class", Cygnus protested.

"No, we won't", Tom convinced them by holding up a necklace.

"What is that?" Abraxas asked curious.

"A timeturner. It means that I can go back in time", he said when he noticed that his friends didn't understand.

He shook his head and pushed them out of the entrance. They sneaked out and left the Hogwarts area.

"Where are we going?" Abraxas asked after a couple of minutes.

"Three broomsticks", Tom said and kept walking.

A short time later, they sat at three broomsticks with a glass of butterbear in their hands. It was late when they finally returned to the castle after several times of trying to use the timeturner. Tom went directly to the Headmasters office to tell him that his timeturner didn't work as it should do. He also talked to him about seeing Melinda and the old man promised to see what he could do. He thanked him and left the office before walking back to the chamber of secrets too look a few things up. Not that much was going on. Mostly just checking if people were pureblooded or not. A small hobby of his.

When he returned to the common room a couple of hour later, he bumped into Slughorn.

"Good thing you're here, Tom. The headmaster wanted me to take you to Sankt Mungos", he said and asked Tom to come with him.

It was the second time that day he left the grounds and as soon as they were out, Slughorn apparated to the magical hospital.  
Slughorn went to speak with a man behind a big desk and after that; another person showed them where to go. They went two floors up, before leaving the elevator. Before them, many strange people laid.

"This way, sir", one of the healers said and showed them to a private room.

"Melinda", Tom burst out when he saw he lay unconscious on a bed.

"Just look, not touch", the healer said softly and Tom nodded briefly.

"How long is she going to stay here?"

"We're not sure, but at least until she wakes up", the healer said with a deep sigh. "She has really given us trouble."

"In what way?" Slughorn asked.

"We can't figure out what's wrong with her. We know its poison, but we can't give her any antidote if we don't know what poison. If we give her the wrong one, she could die immediately. Tom felt it was useless. He would lose her whatever he did and it really hurt to realize it.

An hour later, the healer came back after having looked up some other patients. "

"You have to leave now", she said and looked at Tom, who nodded and bent forward to whisper something in Melindas ear.

"I love you and if you die, I promise you'll be the last person I will ever love. That's a promise, sweetheart." Then he left.

The months passed by and there wasn't a day without him missing her, but what could he do? At least Mark left him along. Good thing, otherwise Tom would have killed him in a blink of an eye.

It was now Christmas Eve and to laid on his bed when someone knocked at the window. Tom opened just too almost get hit by a black owl, which flew around with a letter tied to its leg.  
Tom already knew the message, but removed the letter anyway. Then he laid down on the bed and opened it.


	13. Grief

**Chapter 13: Grief**

_Dear Mr. Riddle.  
We are sorry to tell you that Miss. Rocko has passed away. He dies right before three tonight. We hope you have a happy Christmas._

A single tear fell down his cheek and he didn't move from the bed in all day. Slughorn had been there to try to persuade him to go to the Christmas party, but he resisted. Both Cygnus and Abraxas had been there with some food. They had told him that he had to eat a bit. He had tasted it, but he wasn't in the mood for neither eating or drinking because of that Mark.  
Tom hated him. It was more then that. He thought Mark was a pathetic creep that didn't deserve to exist in this world.

At New Year and his birthday, he still hadn't got up from bed. He barely needed food anymore and both Cyngus and Abraxas were surprised by his absence of it. He no longer cared. He realized weeks ago that Mark was a mudblood himself. In fact, he had realized that before Melinda had died but it wasn't until now he had fully made up his mind about this. He was determined to cleanse the word from all mudbloods and make sure there were no one left.

For the first time in three weeks, he started to feel clearer in his head then he had done for years. He slowly got up, walked to the second floor bathroom, and disappeared through the opening of the chamber of secrets.

We were down there, cleaning all day. He burned all photographs of him and Melinda. Burned every paper in it as well and controlled with such precision that there was not even the slightest sign of someone ever being down there. He didn't even leave a small needle. He even left his basilisk. She had liked what he wanted to do and wanted to come with him, but Tom made it very clear for her that she had to stay and protect the chamber until he returned. She knew better then to question him.

An hour later, when he had finished in the chamber, he sat on his bed and burned the remaining photographs. He didn't care anymore. He knew what he wanted to be, but first he had to finish school. Easier said then done when he had a whole year left. He already knew what they were to be taught and he seriously thought of finishing school early. After some more thinking, he had realized it wasn't such a good idea. People would get suspicious. Especially Dumbledore.

The last couple of days during the holiday he spent by asking for permission to go to Diagon alley for the rest of the holiday. The headmaster, who was very relieved that Tom had gotten out of his depression let him go away and also paid a small room at the leaky cauldron. He never went to Diagon alley more then to sleep; instead, he went to Knockturn alley. People there avoided him. They had seen what he could do and knew not to pick a fight with him. It could be the last thing they ever did.

Tom glanced at the ring, which at the moment sat on his finger. He had removed it in the beginning of they year since he felt uncomfortable with it. Now, he had plans to sell it. No one knew what it really was. In fact, he barely knew it himself He entered a store and the owner looked up when he heard the doorbell.

"Mr. Riddle. I haven't seen you for a while. Anything special you wish for, sir?" the man said and made a low bow.

"Yes, Mike. I want to sell this", Tom answered and showed him the ring, bow placed in his palm.

Mark looked astonished when he first saw the it and reached out to grab it when Tom closed his hand.

"How much can I get for it?"

"I can't know that unless you'll let me take a closer look, sir" Mike scoffed.

Tom sighed again before giving it to Mike, who grabbed it and studied it closely. He mumbled something that Tom didn't catch, but he hoped it was something good.

"Where did you get this from Mr. Riddle?" he asked and gave the small object back to Tom.

"It doesn't matter. How much can I get for it?"

"It's made of an unusual material. I would say not less then 100 galleons", Make replied and relaxed when he saw Toms satisfied grin. "I can tell that you're pleased."

"It's more then I expected. What will you give me for it?"

"Hard to tell. I can give you 125 galleons today, but it's worth more then that. Be back in a week and I can give you at least 200.

"Then I shall see you in a week", Tom said and turned to leave.

"We surely do, sir", Mike said and Tom vanished in the crowded street.

Later that night Tom returned to the leaky cauldron. It was one and half week left of the extra long holiday and Tom enjoyed it fully.

A week later, he was back in the store again. Although it was closed, but as usual Tom didn't care. He just entered it

Mike didn't seem to mind either, but just gave Tom a bag with money. Voldemort counted them closely before handing the ring over.

"Make sure the owner handles it carefully."

He wondered how much Mike would sell it for later. He wasn't exactly know for justice. If it had been someone else, he could easily have paid just 10 galleons. I was lucky Mike didn't dare to lie to Tom, since he knew Voldemort was skilled in legilimency and he wasn't really known for mercy. Tom as usual didn't care.

When school started a couple of days later Tom was more then happy. He kept himself away from the others and did everything it took to forget about Melinda. It just didn't concern him anymore.

"Tom please, come on", Abraxas nagged.

"No, I'm not coming. We're not starting in thirty minutes so why should I be there now?" was his answer.

Abraxas gave up and left.  
Tom smiled. As usual, he had the ability of making other people do whatever he wanted. His homework he gave to a seventh year student. They just stared at him when he put his books on their table, but they never protested.  
No one but Abraxas and Cygnus ever talked to him nowadays. Maybe Michael sometimes, but not often.  
Mark had tried to take contact with him once, but Tom had just thrown an essay at him. He could hear the other student mumble that he deserved a good spanking, but no one was brave enough to do it.

In two weeks, he had turned from just mean to pure evil. No one questioned when he told then he was the heir of Slytherin, not that it mattered any more. When people did his homework, he spent time doing research about the founders. His studies became more intensive and there was more and more tests coming up.

Every time he got them back, he had scored full pot. He also often had extra points for adding something, and that made him turn into she schools smartest kid. All teachers praised him for his quick way of thinking and learning stuff. It was very few times he had to read a text more then once before he knew it by heart. Now he read a book from the restricted session, which he had special permission for since all the other books were too easy for him and the teachers thought he needed to know more then what was written in un harmless books.  
Now he tripped over a text about Salazar Slytherin and what he found out shocked him.


	14. A struggle

**Chapter 14: A struggle**

It said that Salazar Slytherin had had a sister. It was even an old picture of her and the resemblance between her and Melinda was so great that no one could miss that they were related.

It was a long time ago now and barely a month left of school. Med it was also the worst time because of all the tests. The teachers seemed to love giving them lots of homework to manage. Tom didn't have the energy to do them and therefore just passed them on to someone else. Now there were others. He had collected several more followers by just staying in Knockturn alley on his leisure time

A couple of weeks ago he had realized how to get there without drawing attention and now he spent almost every weekend there. All he had to do is go down to Three Broomsticks, use some floo-powder and no one would ever know. It was either Three Broomsticks or the Hog's head. The hog's head was the most usual, but it wasn't rare that he went to Three Broomsticks.Now he sat in a couch with a book in his lap. Not far away, Cyngus and Abraxas sat. They had tried to take some distance from him. Not that he cared. Not really. They wore his mark and knew that there was no turning back. On the other hand, maybe they didn't know, but they would find out soon enough. Tom was going back to the orphanage when school finished, but he didn't intend to stay for very long.

"Tom, come on. The lesson is starting!" Abraxas called and Tom looked up.

His eyes were darker now and seemed to be redder. He liked it. It felt like him being himself.

"Coming!" he answered and got up. He put his book away and followed Abraxas. He didn't trouble himself with bringing his books, since he already knew that someone would take them for him.

He was going to class when he heard a whimper.

"Leave me alone. What have I done to you?" Tom heard and noticed a girl and by judging of the mark on her chest, she was a Ravenclaw.

"Don't you care about us, you filthy little mudblood."

Them Tom felt like ending the conversation. He didn't like to bully someone and besides, he was a prefect.

"Let go of her", he said and the both boys looked terrified when _h__e_ approached them.

They didn't let her go, thought.

"Let go of her I said." This time the boys were quick to obey and let go of her."Are you all right? He asked the girl and she nodded, clearly petrified. "Don't worry; I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

She nodded again and ran off.

"That was unnecessary", he stated to the two boys and left.

He could hear them running after him.

"Tom, com on. It was a joke, don't take it so seriously", one of them tried.

"Still unnecessary. Now leave me", he said harsh.

"But Tom…"

"Go" Voldemort exclaimed and they flinched before leaving him alone.

Tom kept walking to the classroom and his books were as usual at his bench. It was an unusual boring lesson, since all they did was repeating what they had learned before. Tom was incredibly happy when it was over and even happier when he realized the school week was over. Someone had had the courtesy of bringing his books back to the common room and he slowly went there as well. He changed clothing and disappeared through the gates to the Hogwarts ground.

When the weekend was at its end, he returned. No one knew where he had been or what he had done, but Tom didn't mind. He was surprised when he glanced at the note-board

_Because of an urgent staff meeting at the Ministry of Magic, all weeks lessons, have been canceled.  
Albus Dumbledore, Deputy Headmaster._

Tom smiled, but realized it would be two meetings. The first couple of days half of the teachers would leave and then he rest of the in the end of the week.  
He liked the idea and headed back to the common room, where a bunch of girls met him. Not that it was unusual, but today it felt very irritating and he was tired.

"No", he said and the girls groaned in disappointment and left. Tom sat down in a couch next to Abraxas and Cygnus.

"You still miss her, don't you?" Abraxas said and laid a hand on Toms shoulder.

"Don't care", was the answer and he pulled Abraxas arm away.

"Admit it", Cygnus nagged.

"Okey, okey, I miss her", he burst out.

He was happy to have Cygnus and Abraxas. They were the only one he could have a normal conversation nowadays.

"You've been absent thin last couple of months", Cyngus stated and leaned backwards.

"I know. I guess I got depressed when Melinda died and the fact that I can do nothing about Mark."

"It's okey. We understand", Abraxas said calmly. "What happened to the Tom we used to know?"

"He died along with Melinda. Then Voldemort was born. I actually think he's been inside me all along, but now he's almost taken over completely. He stroke back when I was weak and I don't think he'll ever let go once he's taken over completely."

"Lord Voldemort, our master, we know." You're just Tom and you have nothing in common. You're two people in one body. I think you forced you bad side forward when Melinda died to be able to handle all the sorrow", Abraxas said and Tom nodded when he understood that Abraxas conclusion must be correct.

An hour later Tom sat on his bed, writing a poem when he felt how wrong it was. He didn't write poems. Not even when he was just Tom. He knew that Voldemort was trying to take over, be he was not going to let go without a fight. Tom had had enough of Voldemort, but he was so strong.

Half an hour later he laid exhausted on the bed. Voldemort had won and deep down inside of himself he knew that he had stopped fighting. He already knew he had lost the battle.


	15. Voldemort

**So, now I'm finally back from Tunisia. Not that I'm complaining about it, but it's so fun when you only get burned in the sun and then when you come home no one notices that you've been abroad. Anyway, it was nice and warm and the room was wonderful, not to mention the staff there. Hilarious. Sorry about that, have only slept one hour at Denmarks airport and believe me, that is not cozy in any way. Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it.**

Chapter 15: Voldemort

Voldemort rose from his bed and slowly entered the common room. When a couple of students looked strangely at him, he just gave then an angry look and they continued with their homework. He passed the entrance and didn't stop until he was in the forbidden forest.  
A bird twittered nearby and he sniffed contemptuous.  
He wasn't going to let Tom come back in a really long time. Then he had no idea of what Voldemort would to when he took over. Not that it mattered.  
It was he who had told Mark to poison Melinda. It was he who had, in a disguise of course, killed Rose and so many more. Even thought Tom had killed quite many as well.

Far away in his mind, he could hear Tom calling, asking him to let him out, but Voldemort wouldn't listen. He was used to Tom playing his little tricks. He had always existed inside Tom, but it wasn't until about three years ago he really had been able to take control over Toms actions. When Tom had woken up, his friends had looked at him in a very strange way and he had asked them why they were staring. Although, he did understand what was going on with him and after a while, he had even figured out who it was. It had scared him and that was when Voldemort took his opportunity. He only took over when Tom was weak and that only happened when he was angry, sad or even just bored. When he didn't have his guard up and Voldemort was as strongest.

Now he stood in the forest and reflected back. The thought of what he had done made his smile grew wider. He had stopped counting all the corpses a long time ago. Bu that wasn't important. Now Tom knew exactly what was going on, when Voldemort took control. Voldemort wanted it. It was just fun to torment him a little bit.  
He kept walking, but stopped when a man revealed himself to him.

"My lord", he mumbled and kneeled.

Voldemort nodded and motioned for the man to rise.

"Anything now, Anthony?" he asked and the man called Anthony nodded.

"The Ministry is at a riot. People demand that the Minister resign because of harassments against mudbloods. The Minister refuses and people are getting impatient."

"Good", Voldemort muttered when Anthony quieted. "Begin phase one."

"Of course, my lord. Anything you wish", Anthony said and bowed before disappearing into the woods.

Voldemort returned to the castle, protected by the darkness. He looked at his watch. Apparently, time flew by very fast when you had a fun time.

Once he was back in the castle, he went down to the common room and continued to the dormitory where he went to sleep.

When Tom woke up the next morning, he said up and felt a rough headache. This was not one of his good mornings and when he was going to lay down again he smacked the bed gable.  
He groaned in pain and crawled back under the cover again.

"Come on. We're going to be late", Cygnus said and pulled the cover to the floor.

Tom grunted, which led to the fact that Abraxas poured a bucket of ice-cold water on him.

"Aaaaa!" he screamed, which gave Voldemort another chance to return.

When he had calmed down, Voldemort had taken over completely.

"That wasn't very nice", he said and in less then half a second he grabbed Abraxas throat and pushed him up against the wall.

He noticed how Abraxas tried to gasp for air. Cygnus seemed to have disappeared very fast when he saw what Voldemort was doing.

"You will never do this again", he said, furious ad Abraxas could no nothing but Tom nod.

Voldemort pulled his hand back and Abraxas fell down on the floor, breathing intermittently. When he had recovered enough to stand, he received a kick. Then Voldemort left the room and let Tom take over again.

Tom quickly headed back to the dormitory where he found Abraxas sitting on a bed.

"I'm sorry. I tried to stop him", he defended himself.

Abraxas didn't say anything. Instead, he stared at something and Tom walked over to him.  
He quirked when he saw what it was.  
The Dark Mark.  
Abraxas looked at him and it wasn't until now Tom realized that he was crying. Big bruises had begun to be visible on his neck.

"What does it mean?" he asked and looked at the mark.

"I don't know. It's Voldemorts mark and not mine. Cheer up. We're going to be late for class."  
Abraxas nodded and followed Tom. He even took on a scarf just to cover he bruises.

After class, Abraxas talked a lot more. Tom almost thought it was irritating, but didn't say anything. In one way, he thought it was good.

Suddenly he felt someone bumping into his shoulder and he quickly turned around.


	16. Another problem to deal with

**Chapter 16: Another problem to deal with**

"I'm sorry. It was an accident", a blond Ravenclaw boy mumbled and continued with his laughing friends.

Tom could barely control himself. He was very happy that he hadn't let Voldemort take control again.

"It's okey", he said.

Of Voldemort was coming back, Tom would make sure that no one in the school would get hurt. He went back to the common room where he threw himself in an armchair. Right now, he didn't have the strength to do anything. In front of him, it laid a bunch of books and realized that one of them should be finished in less then an hour and he hadn't even started on them yet.  
He slowly got up and went to find his victim. He had in his hands.

Right before he entered the dormitory he bumped into Mitchell. A Seventh year student and today's victim.

"Mitchell", he greeted and Mitchell nodded.

He said nothing more, but just gave him the books.

"When do you need them?" he asked and took the books.

"I need the Defense against the dark arts homework in an hour the rest I need tomorrow", Tom said and turned around.

Mitchell went to start with Toms homework.

An hour later, it was finished and Tom sat behind a bench in the defense against the dark arts classroom.  
He had delivered the homework without anything wrong after a bit of modification. For once, Tom chose not to care. It was still a couple of years Mitchell had had wrong.

It was summer now and the school ended in less then a month. The school was worse then ever. They had a test in classical music and another test as well later that day. Tom couldn't understand why they had a test in classical music at a magic school and why everyone was demanded to know something about the subject.  
Tom had known better then to argue with the teachers and left instead.

Right now, he sat and did the damn test. He was tired of it already. He didn't like Bach at all. He knew about the Brandenburg concerto and Air, but no one else.  
What more did he know about Johann Sebastian Bach. He was born in 1685 and died in 1750. He had had two brothers and became an orphan before he was ten years old. He lived with his brother for five years and he taught Back to play the organ. Bach spent much of his time in Vienna and got married two times. Totally he got 20 children and at least thirteen of the didn't celebrate their fifth birthday. When he remarried in 1721, because of the death of his first wife, he didn't have many children at all. He wanted a good job, but had to give a lot of money to get it. Since he didn't have the money, he didn't get the job. A couple of years later there was a new job in Vienna. There he worked as a cantor. In the end of his life, he was almost completely blind and stopped playing the organ, but kept working as a conductor, but he had to quit with that as well. He got 65 years old and no one knows what caused his death.

Tom thought that was on okey summary, even he if he had missed several important parts in Bachs life. He finished Mozart and Beethoven as well before leaving the classroom.

Tom had never really understood what music meant to him and this brought memories back to life. Memories like when he and Melinda had been outside alone one night and she had played on her flute for him. He had loved the melody. He even remembered some other parts that he never wanted to remember. Like when Voldemort had killed Rose in the chamber of secrets and when Mark had poisoned Melinda. Even all the times he had actually hit both her and Rose for disobedience.  
No, he couldn't think like that. It was Voldemort who had done all that, not him. There hadn't been a chance for Tom to stop Voldemort in times like that.  
Now Voldemort hadn't revealed himself for at least a month and Tom seemed to be able to hang around with people who actually made jokes for him to hear. He didn't like it, but he was careful not to let Voldemort find a loophole, because that would be devastating.

He sat and looked at his music test. Everything correct as usual and he had barely practiced. For once, he had just let someone else learn it, then just copied it, and read the paper to see if everything was correct. He was very disappointed with himself for doing that bit he hadn't had the time to study. Voldemort had opened the chamber again and it was Toms job to make sure it was closed. The basilisk still lingered down there and just waited to be relished.

He threw himself at the bed and opened a book. It had been a long day and he was tired. He had just finished the first page when Druella entered the room.

"What do you want?" he muttered had put the book on the bed.

"We have encountered a problem", she said and smirked.

She took a sip of something that smelled like polyjuice potion. Tom sighed and took a cloak on before going down to the forbidden forest.  
Druella started twitching again and soon there was a man standing behind him.

"What do you want Anthony? I'm busy"

"I understand my lord, but some people seem to have more fun then to do what they should be doing."

Tom nodded, exited the Hogwarts ground and apparated.

He showed up in a dark place. Nearby you could hear the sound of beatings. Tom raised his eyebrows and went to check what was going on.  
Apparently, two of the men had decided to start a fight with each other.

"You see the problem", Anthony said and nodded towards the two men.

"How long has thing been going on?""

"On and off, but a couple of months maybe."

"And how come I don't get to know something until now?" Tom said icily.

"Several of us felt that is was unnecessary. I mean, they've never done like this before.

Tom seemed to have had enough of the men and took a step forward. Something that he shouldn't have done. In half a second, the men punched him back.  
It was a deadly silence.  
No one said a word. The only sound was the sound of a bird singing far away. The men had stopped fighting and took a step backwards.

To slowly got up and covered his cheek with his hand.

"Will someone of you tell me what the hell is going on", he coaxed in a tone far from friendly.

They shook their head violently and Tom dismissed everyone apart from the two men, who stood there, scared of what would happen next.


	17. The punishment

**Chapter 17: The punishment**

"How dare you?" he spat and Tom could feel how Voldemort took control. Only, now he didn't care- The man had hit him and whatever Voldemort was going to do with them, they deserved it.

The both men backed a bit further and Tom could see them shaking. When they backed into a brick wall, which prevented them for backing any more, they stopped, obviously scared to death. Voldemort liked it. The tension he felt when he was about to kill. Only, this time he wouldn't kill them, but he liked the tension even when he was about to punish someone.

Tom knew exactly what he was about to do and relaxed. He stayed with the thought that it was right to punish them this time. It was probably the first time in his life he thought like that, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't be the last time either.  
Tom looked back at them men, who were now kneeling.  
Voldemort smirked. He was used to get what he wanted. Especially when he was angry.

"Crucio", he said and pointed his wand at both of them men. They fell down on the ground, screaming and writher in pain.

Tom wasn't sure he had ever heard anyone scream so loud of for so long time before. Voldemort conjured a chair, sat down and enjoyed the show.

It was a long time since he last tortured someone and therefore it was best to enjoy it while he could. When Voldemort saw that the men had a hard time staying conscious, he relished them for the curse and they laid exhausted on the ground.

"Stand", he ordered and smiled satisfied when they obeyed.

It took them a lot of effort and when they finally stood, they had to catch their breath. You could think they had run several miles. They had to take support of the brick wall, not to fall again and their legs looked like they would yield under the body. They were shaking from the extended torture and Voldemorts smile faded.

"Explain yourselves", he hissed and looked venomously at them.

The men looked at each other before one of them started.

"It began with him telling me something. I got pissed and hit him. He hit me back and then we just continued." Voldemort was very surprised by the fact that the man could speak without any effort.

"Then maybe you can tell me why phase one isn't completed yet. It should have been done about a week after me giving you the order. Now it's been months and you haven't done anything." Tom could feel how Voldemort got angrier. "Because of you silly quarrel we are months begins and I thought you knew that I have trouble using magic when school is finished.

"It was stupid, my lord."

"It really was. I want to see both phase one and two completed in the end of the week."

They looked at him, shocked, since they knew it was impossible.

"But, my lord…"

"Now!" he roared and the men gave a jump.

The man who had started the sentence took a deep breath and continued:

"It is completely impossible. There's not a chance that we can finish both phase one and two in just a week.

"Watch your tongue or I may cut it out. It is you fault and you have to take your turn. Move on", he said and left the men in the darkness.

He entered a house. It was old and deserted. No one seemed to have lived there for several years, but Tom wasn't disturbed by the thing layer of dust that was everywhere in the room. With the determined steps, he went to the second floor where the rest of the death eater awaited him. They looked somewhat bothered by him being there, but they didn't dare to say anything now when he was in such a bad mood.  
Voldemort motioned for a small man to come with him. The small man did what he was told and soon they stood outside of another door a floor up.

Voldemort looked at his watch and discovered in dismay that he had missed two lessons already. He sent the man away again. He had looked very surprised but said nothing. Tom felt that he once again had control over his body and quickly returned to Hogwarts. He didn't want to miss any more on todays lessons. He just entered the opening to their common room when Abraxas and Cyngus exited it.

"Hi Tom. Where have you been?" Abraxas said.

"That's none of your business", he snapped and rumbled down to the common room.

On of the tables his books laid spread out, just as they had done when he left them.  
He was about to take care of his homework when he saw the note laying on top of all the books.  
He read it, flipped through the books, and thanked his luck that he had Cygnus and Abraxas. He skimmed through the rest of it, without finding anything wrong.

He heard footsteps and turned around to see that both Cygnus and Abraxas stood behind him.

"Thanks", he squeezed and they looked surprised at him.

"What now? Tom, are you sick?" Cygnus asked and put a hand on Toms forehead.

"Yes, you have to be. Since when do you thank people you just snapped at?"

"I'm sorry about that", Tom said and picked a book to read.

"Both thanks and sorry on the same day? Are you sure there is nothing wrong with you?"

Tom just sighed. Sometimes his friends really were strange, but he liked them anyway.

"I know I'm weird. What did you do in class earlier?" Tom asked and put the book down for a moment.

"Haven't you heard? Todays lessons are canceled." Abraxas asked. "I thought the whole school knew about it."

"No, I haven't been here, remember?"

"No right, you've been with your death eater friends", Cygnus joked, but cut it off when he saw Toms troubled face.

"They are followers, not friends and I would appreciate if you could be a bit quiet about it.

"Sure, you know. We're not in it at all, or so", Abraxas joked.

"I know you're in it and I think that's reason enough to keep it quiet". Tom said and they stopped joking.

"You're right. We'll try to behave", Cygnus said and threw himself in one of the leather couches. "So, been in the chamber for a while?

"No, I haven't. I don't like to open it too often." Tom sighed and turned to the book again.

That was where he stayed the next couple of hours, before he decided to go to bed. It was dark in the hallway and he could heat the basilisk hissing around the pipes.  
He knew at once that something was wrong, and rushed to the second floor bathroom. It took a while for him to open it since he needed to catch his breath first. When he got down in the chamber, the basilisk met him. He looked up, something he really shouldn't have done. He faced the basilisk and looked directly into its eyes.


	18. Tears

**Chapter 8: Tears**

The strange was that he didn't die. The basilisk trusted him and that's why he didn't die. He kept walking along a hallway before he entered the main chamber. There he sat down on the floor and cried. He didn't really want to hurt anyone, but Voldemort made him. It had never been his intention for Rose to die. It was his fault that Melinda died. If he had just made sure, Mark wasn't there when Melinda died. Then everything would be different. Then maybe he could get rid of Voldemort. Now he was so sensitive that it was impossible.  
He wiped his tears away and kept walking until he entered a very small room, where he sat down in an armchair. There he closed his eyes and relaxed.

Not far from when he had slumbered, the door opened and a man entered. He seemed a bit surprised to find Tom down there, but said nothing. Tom opened his eyes and turned around.

When he saw who it was, he turned back again and closed his eyes. It was just another of his followers. He had found him in south Greece no very long ago and it had turned out that he was a parselmouth as well and then Tom couldn't just leave him.

"You're not going to find anything here, Gabriel", he said and the man quirked.

"Why not if I may ask?" the man called Gabriel asked cheeky.

Tom sighed and didn't answer right away.

Gabriel waited patiently for him to answer and when he finally did, he almost stopped breathing.

"Do you really think that I'm so stupid that I let my private things just lay here so anyone can see them?" Now it was Voldemort who talked and Gabriel quirked again.

"One could hope", he muttered and turned to leave.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Voldemort said without turning around.

"Nothing my lord, nothing", he answered and left Voldemort alone.

A couple of hours later he returned to the common room where Cygnus and Abraxas waited for him. He motioned for them to come with him to the empty dormitory and once there, Tom threw himself at a bed. The other followed his example.

"Voldemort returned today. It haven't happened for a while now", he said, laying on his stomach.

"That's not good", Abraxas said and smiled.

Cygnus nodded in agreement.

"He made me think about Rose and Melinda", he said, his with tears in his eyes.

Abraxas and Cygnus switched bed to his and laid down beside him. Tom did nothing do make them move.

"Tom it wasn't your fault. It was Voldemort."

"I know, but it was my body. If someone ever sees me kill, it's not me. It's Voldemort. Then they'll charge me and probably throw me into Azkaban. There's only one thing left for me to do."

"No Tom. You can't let him take over for good", Cygnus burst out and hit Tom in the back of his head.

"Ouch. What did you do that for?" he whined.

"It was for you to come to your senses. Talk to a teacher about you problem and ask them to do something about Voldemort. Tell them to make him disappear. I don't know", Cygnus answered.

"Don't you think I've tried, but every time I try he stops me from telling them anything. Any ideas Abraxas?"

"Occlumency", he said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Tom thought about it and figured that it would probably be the best thing to do. He thanked his both friends for the options and rushed to the library.

Once there he started to look in the shelves. Not that it took him very long time to find what he need, since he had been there no many times that he probably knew the library by heart. This meant every book, apart from the ones in the restricted session.  
He opened the book and started reading.  
The library had to close very soon and he had to leave. He borrowed the book and continued his reading in the common room.  
He relaxed and cleared his thoughts. Tried to think of nothing.  
It was hard, but after a week of intensive practice, he thought he could manage to keep Voldemort out long enough for him to talk to Dumbledore. He thought it was best to go to Dumbledore since he almost listened and it would be the last person Tom would ask for help. He just hoped it was enough.

It was only a week left of school when he finally went to see his transfiguration teacher.  
He silently knocked at the door, which slowly opened.

"Professor, I need to talk to you."

"What's the matter Tom?" Dumbledore asked and seemed very surprised to see him there.

"It's important and I didn't know where to turn."

"Have a seat." Dumbledore nodded against the chair that was standing next to an old table.

When Tom finally finished, Dumbledore looked at him and sighed.

"Well, this explains a lot", he said.

Tom could do nothing but to nod. He was frightened that Voldemort would try to take over now. Then all of his would be in vain."

"Professor", he started and Dumbledore looked at him. "If I suddenly start acting strange, you have to know that it's not me." The professor nodded and Tom could see that he understood.

"How do you think next year will be?" he asked worriedly.

Tom shrugged and sighed.

"I guess Voldemort will take over in the summer and it's getting harder to stop him every time."

"I'll think of something", Dumbledore promised. "But now it's later and you have to go to bed if you want to have the energy to finish tomorrow."

Tom thanked him and went to the common room where he met Abraxas and Cygnus.

"How did it go?" Abraxas asked, but received no reply.

"Tom, what's the matter?" Cygnus asked.

Tom could feel how Voldemort pushed his way through Tom.

"Go. Voldemort is coming back. I don't want him to hurt you", he panted.

It was too late.

Voldemort was back and he could feel how the common room held their breaths. In the corner of his eye, he could see Cygnus and Abraxas exiting the room.

"Where in hell do you think you're going?" he roared and they stopped immediately.

Somehow, Tom was able to control Voldemort for a moment and told his friends to get Dumbledore. He didn't have to say that twice and both Cygnus and Abraxas disappeared in a blink of an eye. He managed to get everyone else out as well, before Voldemort took control again.  
Then the unthinkable happened.  
The door opened and who would enter, but Mark. Tom tried to scream, but couldn't push one word out of his mouth. Voldemort quickly grabbed Mark and dragged him into the dormitory, where he threw him at a chair.

"Now we're going to have a little talk", he said and looked into Marks eyes.

Tom himself didn't want anything but for Dumbledore to come before Voldemort had the time to hurt the boy.  
His wish came true and the door slammed up. Voldemort had no time to react before Dumbledore cast a spell to make him unconscious.


	19. Torture

**Chapter 19: Torture  
**  
When Tom woke up, he laid in a shaking bed. He looked around and noticed that he was on the train that was going to take them back to London. He groaned at sat up. Cygnus and Abraxas sat beside him, looking very worried.

"What happened?" he asked and took a sip of the water that was standing next to him.

"Voldemort. I'm not really sure what happened, but Dumbledore had to put you to sleep. Apparently you wouldn't wake up until Voldemort let you take control again", Abraxas said and looked at Tom.

"Really", Tom muttered. "What time is it?"

"Almost six. We'll be there in about two hours", Abraxas said and leaned back.

Suddenly the door opened and Mark entered it.

"What do you want?" Tom spat and Cygnus and Abraxas stood up.

"You should leave. Can't you see that Tom's not feeling well?" Cygnus said angry.

"It's important. Can we talk alone Tom?"

Tom nodded and Cygnus and Abraxas left the compartment even though they disliked it.

"What?" he muttered.

"I just want you to know that I'm sorry about what happened to Melinda", he answered and looked down on the floor.

"You're sorry?" Tom repeated and Mark nodded. "You're sorry that you killed the only person I have ever loved?!" Now he was screaming.

Mark gave a jump and the compartment door was opened.

"You'll have to leave now", Cygnus said.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Mark screamed in Toms face. "Don't you understand what I've been going trough? How much I regret ever doing as your alter ego told me to do. Do you have any idea how bad I feel?"

"How bad you feel? You're coming here and tell me you're sorry. You don't even deserve to be called human, creep." Voldemort took over completely and tom did nothing Tom stop it. He had already lost the battle and Tom and Voldemort became one.

"Did you just call me creep?" Tom asked and raised his wand.

Cygnus, Abraxas and Tom did the same.

"You do know that we're three against one, right?" Tom smirked.

"You think I'm scared?" Mark laughed.

"You should be."

"Really? Why? What's the worst thing you've ever done?"

"Yes, let's see. I have tortured, killed, killed again and tortured a bit more and I have probably broken every law in the world by now", Tom said silkily. "So yes, I think you should be afraid."

"I'm not scared", Mark answered, but Tom could feel him lying.

At the moment, he was scared to death. Just like he should be.  
Before Mark had any time to react the compartment window and been blown away.

In less then a second the whole compartment was filled with people, aiming against Mark, who dropped his and backed towards the exit, but Tom was too fast. He snapped his fingers and the door were blocked immediately.  
One of the men threw him at Tom and Mark whined. Tom gave the man an angry look that told him not to do that again.

"Tom stop", he begged.

"There is no Tom any more", Voldemort said and smirked.

His eyed went red and Mark backed until he felt wands pointing into his back. Voldemort slowly approached him and grabbed his neck hard enough for Mark to whine in pain.  
Voldemort looked around and noticed Cygnus and Abraxas standing in a corner,

"Didn't I tell the two of you to stay outside?", he roared and threw Mark on the floor. Both of his friends disappeared and Voldemort sighed. Voldemort had decided to take control for good now for a while and then pretend the next year. Then he could make up stories about himself when Dumbledore asked him about how the summer's been. It wasn't very hard to fool them. He had done it for years.  
No one had known when he had taken control, but him, and maybe Tom as well, but he didn't count.  
He turned and looked down at Mark.

"Crucio", he said and pointed his wand at the boy on the floor.

He started to scream and writhe in pain. Voldemort could hear how he screamed and that only made in increase the pain.  
He loved the Cruciatus cruse. There didn't exist any better way of torture.

Two minutes later he decided that he had had enough and let it fade away. The death eaters laughed when Mark fell flat on the floor, panting from the pain.  
Voldemort looked angrily at Mark before snapping with his fingers again.  
Two of the men bent down and picked him up. Then Mark saw his chance, evoked all his powers, and hit.  
He hit precisely where wanted and you could hear the bone crack. It didn't mean anything to Voldemort, who cast as spell and the nose was healed in a couple of seconds.  
He stood with his back against Mark, boiling with anger. He slowly turned around and Mark tried to tear away from the death eaters grip. How much he tried he couldn't move and inch. Voldemort slowly walked over to him and stopped half a meter from the boy.  
He looked at his followers and nodded. Almost immediately, Mark was pushed down onto the floor in a bowing position. The rest of the death eaters did the same, but without violence and soon Voldemort was the only one standing.  
He pointed his wand against Mark one last time.

"Avada Kedavra", he said and Mark fell dead to the floor.

Voldemort motioned for the rest of his followers to leave, which they did.

Soon after, mark was thrown out of the compartment and Voldemort let his eyes go back to being brown again. Then he laid down in the bed, just in time before the door opened. Cygnus and Abraxas entered and Voldemort smiled.

"The train is stopping", they told him and left.

Voldemort stood up, took his stuff and made sure to be the first person the leave the train when it stopped. Then he went trough the passage and into King's cross and back the orphanage.

The other children had not been happy about his return, but they knew Tom and didn't say anything. Now he laid in his bed and started at the ceiling. He already longed back to the next year and what would happen then. He smirked, before falling asleep.

**FINISH**

**Okey, that was this story. Hope you have liked it. I will post the sequel as soon as I have translated some more chapters. It will take place about ten years in the future and is names Tom Riddle and the first death eaters.**


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